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Higher education institutions (HEIs) consume significant energy and water and contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. HEIs are under pressure internally and externally to improve their overall performance on reducing GHG emissions within their boundaries. It is necessary to identify critical areas of high GHG emissions within a campus to help find solutions to improve the overall sustainability performance of the campus. An integrated probabilistic-fuzzy framework is developed to help universities address the uncertainty associated with the reporting of water, energy, and carbon (WEC) flows within a campus. The probabilistic assessment using Monte Carlo Simulations effectively addressed the aleatory uncertainties, due to the randomness in the variations of the recorded WEC usages, while the fuzzy synthetic evaluation addressed the epistemic uncertainties, due to vagueness in the linguistic variables associated with WEC benchmarks. The developed framework is applied to operational, academic, and residential buildings at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus). Three scenarios are analyzed, allocating the partial preference to water, or energy, or carbon. Furthermore, nine temporal seasons are generated to assess the variability, due to occupancy and climate changes. Finally, the aggregation is completed for the assessed buildings. The study reveals that climatic and type of buildings significantly affect the overall performance of a university. This study will help the sustainability centers and divisions in HEIs assess the spatiotemporal variability of WEC flows and effectively address the uncertainties to cover a wide range of human judgment.
Abdulaziz Alghamdi; Guangji Hu; Gyan Chhipi-Shrestha; Husnain Haider; Kasun Hewage; Rehan Sadiq. Investigating Spatiotemporal Variability of Water, Energy, and Carbon Flows: A Probabilistic Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation Framework for Higher Education Institutions. Environments 2021, 8, 72 .
AMA StyleAbdulaziz Alghamdi, Guangji Hu, Gyan Chhipi-Shrestha, Husnain Haider, Kasun Hewage, Rehan Sadiq. Investigating Spatiotemporal Variability of Water, Energy, and Carbon Flows: A Probabilistic Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation Framework for Higher Education Institutions. Environments. 2021; 8 (8):72.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAbdulaziz Alghamdi; Guangji Hu; Gyan Chhipi-Shrestha; Husnain Haider; Kasun Hewage; Rehan Sadiq. 2021. "Investigating Spatiotemporal Variability of Water, Energy, and Carbon Flows: A Probabilistic Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation Framework for Higher Education Institutions." Environments 8, no. 8: 72.
Oil and Gas (O&G) is one of the largest industrial sectors around the world and threatens both humans and environment. Both the companies and regulatory authorities consistently commit resources to improve their integrity management programs (IMPs) and safety culture maturity (SCM). Internal and external audits, public surveys, and benchmarking techniques are being used for discretely assessing both the IMPs and SCM. A novel risk-based benchmarking framework establishes logical relationships between IMP components and their contributions toward SCM attributes using failure mode effects analysis (FMEA). The framework evaluates 88 small, medium, and large-sized O&G companies operating in British Columbia (Canada) using the data from compliance audits for the period between 2011 and 2016. The results revealed that effective communication, updated protocols, and strict follow ups by the regulator with the operating companies improve both the IMP and SCM. The framework identifies the underperforming components for effective improvements and is a paradigm shift from the conventional twofold auditing process to a more efficient and time-saving practice.
Hassan Iqbal; Haider Husnain; Bushra Waheed; Solomon Tesfamariam; Rehan Sadiq. Benchmarking of Oil and Gas Pipeline Companies in British Columbia: Integrating Integrity Management Program and Safety Culture Using a Risk-Based Approach. Engineering Management Journal 2021, 1 -17.
AMA StyleHassan Iqbal, Haider Husnain, Bushra Waheed, Solomon Tesfamariam, Rehan Sadiq. Benchmarking of Oil and Gas Pipeline Companies in British Columbia: Integrating Integrity Management Program and Safety Culture Using a Risk-Based Approach. Engineering Management Journal. 2021; ():1-17.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHassan Iqbal; Haider Husnain; Bushra Waheed; Solomon Tesfamariam; Rehan Sadiq. 2021. "Benchmarking of Oil and Gas Pipeline Companies in British Columbia: Integrating Integrity Management Program and Safety Culture Using a Risk-Based Approach." Engineering Management Journal , no. : 1-17.
Saudi Arabia is one of the countries with the highest number of road accidents and associated fatalities in the world. Speeding has been identified as an important cause of increased traffic accidents, which also aggravate their severity. Road safety improvement strategies are primarily based on the accurate identification of accident hotspots. Installing speed cameras at a network level is an expensive road safety measure, and its spatiotemporal effectiveness should be assessed. In this study, a traffic accident risk assessment framework has been developed and implemented on the 84 km long Buraydah Ring Road in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. The selected highway was divided into 42 (×2 km long) segments using the ArcGIS software. A risk scoring scheme was developed to incorporate both the frequency and severity of road accidents. Speed cameras installation at various segments showed a 70% decline in total accident counts, 53% in accidents with property damage, 84% decline in accidents causing injury, and complete absence of accidents with fatalities. The 48% segments were identified as hotspots with risk level ≥ medium, while the speed cameras installation completely eliminated the hotspots from the study area. The proposed framework can be implemented on major high-speed highways, accommodating high traffic volumes, for hotspot identification and evaluation of various road safety measures in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
Meshal Almoshaogeh; Radfan Abdulrehman; Husnain Haider; Fawaz Alharbi; Arshad Jamal; Saif Alarifi; Shafiquzzaman. Traffic Accident Risk Assessment Framework for Qassim, Saudi Arabia: Evaluating the Impact of Speed Cameras. Applied Sciences 2021, 11, 6682 .
AMA StyleMeshal Almoshaogeh, Radfan Abdulrehman, Husnain Haider, Fawaz Alharbi, Arshad Jamal, Saif Alarifi, Shafiquzzaman. Traffic Accident Risk Assessment Framework for Qassim, Saudi Arabia: Evaluating the Impact of Speed Cameras. Applied Sciences. 2021; 11 (15):6682.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMeshal Almoshaogeh; Radfan Abdulrehman; Husnain Haider; Fawaz Alharbi; Arshad Jamal; Saif Alarifi; Shafiquzzaman. 2021. "Traffic Accident Risk Assessment Framework for Qassim, Saudi Arabia: Evaluating the Impact of Speed Cameras." Applied Sciences 11, no. 15: 6682.
In arid regions such as Saudi Arabia, wastewater treatment (WWT) facilities (meeting promulgated standards) need to adapt their continuous performance improvement (CPI) for long-term sustainability. To achieve this, the facilities need to improve their performance to comply with more strict objectives for broader reuse applications of treated effluent. The present research proposes a CPI framework based on performance benchmarking process for the stepwise improvement of WWT facilities. A grey rational analysis water quality index (GWQI) based on exceedance probability was developed. For weights’ estimation of 11 physical, chemical, and biological water quality parameters, the entropy method effectively accommodated the changes in relative importance of the parameters with including additional future reuse applications. For existing effluent reuse scenarios of restricted and unrestricted irrigation, the GWQI values were found consistent with the modified version of the Canadian WQI (CWQI). The indices’ values (ranged between 0 and 100) greater than 80 showed the efficient operation of four WWT plants in the Qassim Region of Saudi Arabia. Two hypothetical CPI scenarios with future reuse applications (fish, livestock drinking, and recreation) showed an overall decline in the average (of four plants) values of the GWQI (97 to 78) and CWQI (85 to 60). CWQI predicted stricter results for the facilities with parameters’ concentrations exceeding the targets with larger margins and was found applicable for the CPI of WWT facilities in arid regions. For existing scenarios, the assessment results suggest the facilities to control and monitor the chlorination practice. For future targets, tertiary treatment needs to be enhanced for desired nutrients and total dissolved solids removal. The proposed CPI framework provides a platform to initiate the performance benchmarking process for WWT facilities at local or regional levels in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
Husnain Haider; Mohammed AlHetari; Abdul Ghumman; Ibrahim Al-Salamah; Hussein Thabit; Shafiquzzaman. Continuous Performance Improvement Framework for Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Facilities in Arid Regions: Case of Wadi Rumah in Qassim, Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2021, 18, 6857 .
AMA StyleHusnain Haider, Mohammed AlHetari, Abdul Ghumman, Ibrahim Al-Salamah, Hussein Thabit, Shafiquzzaman. Continuous Performance Improvement Framework for Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Facilities in Arid Regions: Case of Wadi Rumah in Qassim, Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18 (13):6857.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHusnain Haider; Mohammed AlHetari; Abdul Ghumman; Ibrahim Al-Salamah; Hussein Thabit; Shafiquzzaman. 2021. "Continuous Performance Improvement Framework for Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Facilities in Arid Regions: Case of Wadi Rumah in Qassim, Saudi Arabia." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 13: 6857.
The evaporation losses are very high in warm-arid regions and their accurate evaluation is vital for the sustainable management of water resources. The assessment of such losses involves extremely difficult and original tasks because of the scarcity of data in countries with an arid climate. The main objective of this paper is to develop models for the simulation of pan-evaporation with the help of Penman and Hamon’s equations, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), and the Artificial Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). The results from five types of ANN models with different training functions were compared to find the best possible training function. The impact of using various input variables was investigated as an original contribution of this research. The average temperature and mean wind speed were found to be the most influential parameters. The estimation of parameters for Penman and Hamon’s equations was quite a daunting task. These parameters were estimated using a state of the art optimization algorithm, namely General Reduced Gradient Technique. The results of the Penman and Hamon’s equations, ANN, and ANFIS were compared. Thirty-eight years (from 1980 to 2018) of manually recorded pan-evaporation data regarding mean daily values of a month, including the relative humidity, wind speed, sunshine duration, and temperature, were collected from three gauging stations situated in Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia. The Nash and Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) and Mean Square Error (MSE) evaluated the performance of pan-evaporation modeling techniques. The study shows that the ANFIS simulation results were better than those of ANN and Penman and Hamon’s equations. The findings of the present research will help managers, engineers, and decision makers to sustainability manage natural water resources in warm-arid regions.
Abdul Ghumman; Mohammed Jamaan; Afaq Ahmad; Shafiquzzaman; Husnain Haider; Ibrahim Al Salamah; Yousry Ghazaw. Simulation of Pan-Evaporation Using Penman and Hamon Equations and Artificial Intelligence Techniques. Water 2021, 13, 793 .
AMA StyleAbdul Ghumman, Mohammed Jamaan, Afaq Ahmad, Shafiquzzaman, Husnain Haider, Ibrahim Al Salamah, Yousry Ghazaw. Simulation of Pan-Evaporation Using Penman and Hamon Equations and Artificial Intelligence Techniques. Water. 2021; 13 (6):793.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAbdul Ghumman; Mohammed Jamaan; Afaq Ahmad; Shafiquzzaman; Husnain Haider; Ibrahim Al Salamah; Yousry Ghazaw. 2021. "Simulation of Pan-Evaporation Using Penman and Hamon Equations and Artificial Intelligence Techniques." Water 13, no. 6: 793.
Permeable pavement provides sustainable solutions for urban stormwater management. In this research, the potential of rice bran mixed porous clay bricks were evaluated for permeable pavements. Physical, mechanical and hydrological properties along with stormwater treatment capabilities of the brick samples were assessed. The study found that ratio of rice bran and clay soil has significant impacts on the properties of the produced bricks. Water adsorption and porosity increased with increasing rice bran ratio. Compressive strength of brick samples decreased from 29.6 MPa to 6.9 MPa when the ratio of rice bran was increased from 0% to 20%. The permeability coefficient increased from 4 × 10−4 to 1.39 × 10−2 mm/s with the increase in rice bran from 0% to 30%. The preamble clay bricks were efficient to remove turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), five days’ biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), and heavy metals (Mn, Cu, and Zn) from stormwater to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) standard for wastewater reuse application. The bricks with ≤10% of rice bran achieved the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard of the desire compressive strength and permeability coefficient for pedestrian and light traffic pavements. The porous bricks prepared in this study can be used to construct permeable pavements and would be a sustainable low impact developments technique for stormwater management in urban areas.
Fawaz Alharbi; Meshal Almoshaogeh; Shafiquzzaman; Husnain Haider; Rafiquzzaman; Ahmed Alragi; Sherif ElKholy; Elsaid Bayoumi; Yassine El-Ghoul. Development of Rice Bran Mixed Porous Clay Bricks for Permeable Pavements: A Sustainable LID Technique for Arid Regions. Sustainability 2021, 13, 1443 .
AMA StyleFawaz Alharbi, Meshal Almoshaogeh, Shafiquzzaman, Husnain Haider, Rafiquzzaman, Ahmed Alragi, Sherif ElKholy, Elsaid Bayoumi, Yassine El-Ghoul. Development of Rice Bran Mixed Porous Clay Bricks for Permeable Pavements: A Sustainable LID Technique for Arid Regions. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (3):1443.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFawaz Alharbi; Meshal Almoshaogeh; Shafiquzzaman; Husnain Haider; Rafiquzzaman; Ahmed Alragi; Sherif ElKholy; Elsaid Bayoumi; Yassine El-Ghoul. 2021. "Development of Rice Bran Mixed Porous Clay Bricks for Permeable Pavements: A Sustainable LID Technique for Arid Regions." Sustainability 13, no. 3: 1443.
Water utilities in arid regions deal with multifaceted issues of natural groundwater contamination, high treatment costs, and low water rates. These utilities rely on intermittent supplies resulting in numerous water quality failures at source, treatment, distribution, and in-house plumbing systems. The present research presents an inclusive risk assessment methodology for managing water quality from source to tap. Three-year monitoring data for turbidity, TDS, pH, iron, ammonia, nitrates, residual chlorine, Coliform group, E. coli, and Fecal Streptococci identified the root causes of failures. The cause-effect relationships in the form of a fault tree were solved using multiple failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) to handle both the Boolean operations. The fuzzy sets addressed the uncertainties associated with data limitations in calculating exceedance probabilities (Pe) and vagueness in expert opinion for subjective evaluation of severity and detectability. The methodology was applied on a smaller system serving 18,000 consumers in Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Potable supplied water underwent reoccurrence of TDS (Pe = 20%), turbidity (Pe = 10%), and Fe (Pe = 2%) failures in distribution that further increased up to 44%, 33%, and 11% at the consumer end. The Pe for residual chlorine failure soared up to 89%. Economic controls reduced the cumulative risk to 50%, while the shift to continuous supply can limit the remaining failures under the acceptable risk. The framework will help utilities manage water quality in intermittent systems from source to tap in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf, and elsewhere.
Husnain Haider; Mohammed Hammed Alkhowaiter; M. D. Shafiquzzaman; Mohammad Alresheedi; Saleem S. AlSaleem; Abdul Razzaq Ghumman. Source to Tap Risk Assessment for Intermittent Water Supply Systems in Arid Regions: An Integrated FTA—Fuzzy FMEA Methodology. Environmental Management 2021, 67, 324 -341.
AMA StyleHusnain Haider, Mohammed Hammed Alkhowaiter, M. D. Shafiquzzaman, Mohammad Alresheedi, Saleem S. AlSaleem, Abdul Razzaq Ghumman. Source to Tap Risk Assessment for Intermittent Water Supply Systems in Arid Regions: An Integrated FTA—Fuzzy FMEA Methodology. Environmental Management. 2021; 67 (2):324-341.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHusnain Haider; Mohammed Hammed Alkhowaiter; M. D. Shafiquzzaman; Mohammad Alresheedi; Saleem S. AlSaleem; Abdul Razzaq Ghumman. 2021. "Source to Tap Risk Assessment for Intermittent Water Supply Systems in Arid Regions: An Integrated FTA—Fuzzy FMEA Methodology." Environmental Management 67, no. 2: 324-341.
Aquatic Centres (ACs) in cold regions, serving thousands of visitors year-round, strive to achieve sustainability of their complex processes, e.g., safe indoor environment, water and energy efficiency, and customer satisfaction. In the absence of a structured performance benchmarking process, the facility management functions with no impetus for improving the performance of these components. A performance benchmarking model using a multilevel approach is developed to infer the performance of the key components for improving the sustainability performance of ACs. The bottom-up approach aggregated the scores of sixty-three performance indicators (PIs) using Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) to generate the performance indices for the seven key components. Sensitivity analysis identified the indicators with a significant contribution to the component's performance. Application of the model on five facilities operating in the province of British Columbia (BC) (Canada) provides a starting point towards sustainability of ACs. The results showed that two of the ACs (i.e., AC2 and AC5) outperforms the remaining participating centers. However, all the participating centres need to improve almost all of their key-components, with a particular focus on energy efficiency and socio-economic stability. The developed model provides assistance in decision-making at different levels of the ACs’ organizational hierarchy. This model holistically covers all the processes (e.g., water and air quality) and operations (e.g., energy, personnel, and customers) and will help the ACs in achieving 21st-century sustainable development initiatives in cold regions.
Sana Saleem; Husnain Haider; Kasun Hewage; Rehan Sadiq. Performance benchmarking model for sustainability of aquatic centres in cold regions: Development and implementation. Sustainable Production and Consumption 2020, 26, 558 -573.
AMA StyleSana Saleem, Husnain Haider, Kasun Hewage, Rehan Sadiq. Performance benchmarking model for sustainability of aquatic centres in cold regions: Development and implementation. Sustainable Production and Consumption. 2020; 26 ():558-573.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSana Saleem; Husnain Haider; Kasun Hewage; Rehan Sadiq. 2020. "Performance benchmarking model for sustainability of aquatic centres in cold regions: Development and implementation." Sustainable Production and Consumption 26, no. : 558-573.
Shafiquzzaman; Husnain Haider; Muhammed Ali Bhuiyan; Abdelkader Tawfeek Ahmed; Saleem Saleh Al-Saleem; Abdul Razzaq Ghumman. Reply: response to letter to the editor. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 2020, 28, 4889 -4890.
AMA StyleShafiquzzaman, Husnain Haider, Muhammed Ali Bhuiyan, Abdelkader Tawfeek Ahmed, Saleem Saleh Al-Saleem, Abdul Razzaq Ghumman. Reply: response to letter to the editor. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 2020; 28 (4):4889-4890.
Chicago/Turabian StyleShafiquzzaman; Husnain Haider; Muhammed Ali Bhuiyan; Abdelkader Tawfeek Ahmed; Saleem Saleh Al-Saleem; Abdul Razzaq Ghumman. 2020. "Reply: response to letter to the editor." Environmental Science and Pollution Research 28, no. 4: 4889-4890.
Groundwater in several parts of the world, particularly in developing countries, has been contaminated with Arsenic (As). In search of low-cost As removal methods, the biological oxidation of As(III) and Fe(II) followed by co-precipitation requires detailed investigation for the practical implementation of this technology. The present study investigated the biological oxidation of As(III) and Fe(II) through a combination of laboratory experiments and reactive transport modeling. Batch experiments were conducted to evaluate the As(III) oxidation by Fe-oxidizing bacteria, mainly Leptothrix spp. A fixed-bed down-flow biological column containing inexpensive and readily available coconut husk support media was used to evaluate the combined removal of As(III) and Fe(II) from synthetic groundwater. Oxidation and co-precipitation processes effectively reduced the concentration of As(III) from 500 μg/L to < 10 μg/L with a hydraulic retention time of 120 min. A one-dimensional reactive transport model was developed based on the microbially mediated biochemical reactions of As(III) and Fe(II). The model successfully reproduced the observed As(III) and Fe(II) removal trends in the column experiments. The modeling results showed that the top 20 cm aerobic layer of the column played a primary role in the microbial oxidation of Fe(II) and As(III). The model calibration identified the hydraulic residence time as the most significant process parameter for the removal of Fe and As in the column. The developed model can effectively predict As concentrations in the effluent and provide design guidelines for the biological treatment of As. The model would also be useful for understanding the biogeochemical behavior of Fe and As under aerobic conditions.
Abdur Razzak; Shafiquzzaman; Husnain Haider; Mohammad Alresheedi. Arsenic removal by iron-oxidizing bacteria in a fixed-bed coconut husk column: Experimental study and numerical modeling. Environmental Pollution 2020, 272, 115977 .
AMA StyleAbdur Razzak, Shafiquzzaman, Husnain Haider, Mohammad Alresheedi. Arsenic removal by iron-oxidizing bacteria in a fixed-bed coconut husk column: Experimental study and numerical modeling. Environmental Pollution. 2020; 272 ():115977.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAbdur Razzak; Shafiquzzaman; Husnain Haider; Mohammad Alresheedi. 2020. "Arsenic removal by iron-oxidizing bacteria in a fixed-bed coconut husk column: Experimental study and numerical modeling." Environmental Pollution 272, no. : 115977.
Current microalgal based photobioreactors focus on the secondary treated effluent while limited researches attempted for treating the raw domestic wastewater. This study aimed to assess the microalgal biomass production, removal performance, and fouling characteristics of microalgal membrane bioreactors (MMBRs) for treating synthetic wastewater under different conditions of organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic residence time (HRT). The 12h/12 h dark/light cycle continuous experiments were performed for four MMBRs at different OLRs and three MMBRs at different HRTs. Results showed that microalgal biomass production rate (as TSS and chlorophyll-a) decreased with increasing OLR and increased with decreasing of HRT. Regardless of the OLR and HRT conditions, MMBRs can achieve up to 94% organic removal by bacterial oxidation without external aeration. Total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) removals were significantly decreased with increasing OLR. Highest TN removal (68.4%) achieved at the OLR of 0.014 kg/(m3 d) which was reduced to 58.1% at 0.028 kg/(m3 d). Removals of total phosphorous significantly decreased from 48.2% to 37.7% with an increase in OLR from 0.011 to 0.014 kg/(m3 d). TN removal was reduced at shorten HRT (2 d), while, the effect of HRT was found insignificant at higher HRT. An effective removal of P can only be achieved at higher HRTs, i.e., 7 days. OLR up to 0.014 kg/(m3 d) and 2 days HRT was found suitable for maintaining the fouling frequency at an optimal level of 0.016/d. Overall the OLR and HRT need to be carefully selected to achieve optimal efficiency of MMBR. The results of this study provide guidelines for designing the microalgal-based membrane bioreactors for the treatment of domestic wastewater.
A.K.M. Ashadullah; Shafiquzzaman; Husnain Haider; Mohammad Alresheedi; Mohammad Shafiul Azam; Abdul Razzaq Ghumman. Wastewater treatment by microalgal membrane bioreactor: Evaluating the effect of organic loading rate and hydraulic residence time. Journal of Environmental Management 2020, 278, 111548 .
AMA StyleA.K.M. Ashadullah, Shafiquzzaman, Husnain Haider, Mohammad Alresheedi, Mohammad Shafiul Azam, Abdul Razzaq Ghumman. Wastewater treatment by microalgal membrane bioreactor: Evaluating the effect of organic loading rate and hydraulic residence time. Journal of Environmental Management. 2020; 278 ():111548.
Chicago/Turabian StyleA.K.M. Ashadullah; Shafiquzzaman; Husnain Haider; Mohammad Alresheedi; Mohammad Shafiul Azam; Abdul Razzaq Ghumman. 2020. "Wastewater treatment by microalgal membrane bioreactor: Evaluating the effect of organic loading rate and hydraulic residence time." Journal of Environmental Management 278, no. : 111548.
Green buildings are playing a pivotal role in sustainable urban development around the world, including Saudi Arabia. Green buildings subject to various sources of risk that influence the potential outcomes of the investments or services added in their design. The present study developed a structured framework to examine various risks that may lead to green buildings’ value destruction in Saudi Arabia. The framework initiates with identification of 66 potential risk factors from reported literature. A questionnaire compiling a list of identified risk factors was hand-delivered to 300 practitioners (managers, engineers, and architects) having knowledge of value engineering in the construction industry, and an overall response rate of 29.7% was achieved. Subsequently, descriptive statistics ranked the risk factors based on scores given by the respondents. The principal component analysis extracted 16 components, based on the likelihood of risk factors impacting the value created by green building design. Finally, the factor analysis grouped the 35 most significant risk factors in 5 clusters—i.e., 8 in functional risk, 13 in financial risk, 3 in operational risk, 3 in environmental risk, and 8 in management risk cluster. The study enhances the understanding of the importance of the risk factors’ impact on value creation. Based on the results, the value management (or engineering) teams and the top-level management can identify, manage, and control the risk factors that have a significant impact on the project value created by green building design.
Wael Alattyih; Husnain Haider; Halim Boussabaine. Risk Factors Impacting the Project Value Created by Green Buildings in Saudi Arabia. Applied Sciences 2020, 10, 7388 .
AMA StyleWael Alattyih, Husnain Haider, Halim Boussabaine. Risk Factors Impacting the Project Value Created by Green Buildings in Saudi Arabia. Applied Sciences. 2020; 10 (21):7388.
Chicago/Turabian StyleWael Alattyih; Husnain Haider; Halim Boussabaine. 2020. "Risk Factors Impacting the Project Value Created by Green Buildings in Saudi Arabia." Applied Sciences 10, no. 21: 7388.
Global climate change is an unequivocal reality that is immensely impacting the available water resources in many regions around the globe. For sustainable water resource management, the present research aims to evaluate the impact of climatic change on streamflow using both the global climate change and hydraulic models. This research presents a novel approach of applying functional data analysis (FDA) to highlight the commonalities and differences between the outcomes of various models for streamflow analysis. Observed temperature, precipitation and streamflow data from 1985 to 2014 of Astore catchment in the Upper Indus River Basin, in Pakistan, were used for this purpose. The precipitation and temperature results of three global climate models (GCMs) were obtained under two scenarios of greenhouse gas concentration, namely RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5. Results of precipitation and temperature obtained under climate change scenarios were subsequently used to simulate the streamflow using the Hydrologic Engineering Centre-Hydraulic Modeling System (HEC-HMS). The FDA evaluated the Euclidean distances between the streamflow data predicted by various models. The diverging trend found in these distances identified some degree of dissimilarities in the streamflow results. The simulations manifest that the streamflow will increase in the study area (Astore) till 2070, while it is expected to decline in the distant future. The concerned agencies can adopt rational water resource management strategies based on the predicted streamflow in the region.
Abdul Razzaq Ghumman; Ateeq- Ur- Rauf; Abdullah Alodah; Husnain Haider; Shafiquzzaman. Evaluating the impact of climate change on stream flow: integrating GCM, hydraulic modelling and functional data analysis. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 2020, 13, 1 -15.
AMA StyleAbdul Razzaq Ghumman, Ateeq- Ur- Rauf, Abdullah Alodah, Husnain Haider, Shafiquzzaman. Evaluating the impact of climate change on stream flow: integrating GCM, hydraulic modelling and functional data analysis. Arabian Journal of Geosciences. 2020; 13 (17):1-15.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAbdul Razzaq Ghumman; Ateeq- Ur- Rauf; Abdullah Alodah; Husnain Haider; Shafiquzzaman. 2020. "Evaluating the impact of climate change on stream flow: integrating GCM, hydraulic modelling and functional data analysis." Arabian Journal of Geosciences 13, no. 17: 1-15.
In arid regions, the groundwater drawdown consistently increases, and even for a constant pumping rate, long-term predictions remain a challenge. The present research applies the modular three-dimensional finite-difference groundwater flow (MODFLOW) model to a unique aquifer facing challenges of undefined boundary conditions. Artificial neural networks (ANN) and adaptive neuro fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS) have also been investigated for predicting groundwater levels in the aquifer. A framework is developed for evaluating the impact of various scenarios of groundwater pumping on aquifer depletion. A new code in MATLAB was written for predictions of aquifer depletion using ANN/ANFIS. The geotechnical, meteorological, and hydrological data, including discharge and groundwater levels from 1980 to 2018 for wells in Qassim, were collected from the ministry concerned. The Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency and mean square error examined the performance of the models. The study found that the existing pumping rates can result in an alarming drawdown of 105 m in the next 50 years. Appropriate water conservation strategies for maintaining the existing pumping rate can reduce the impact on aquifer depletion by 33%.
Mohammed Almuhaylan; Abdul Ghumman; Ibrahim Al-Salamah; Afaq Ahmad; Yousry Ghazaw; Husnain Haider; Shafiquzzaman. Evaluating the Impacts of Pumping on Aquifer Depletion in Arid Regions Using MODFLOW, ANFIS and ANN. Water 2020, 12, 2297 .
AMA StyleMohammed Almuhaylan, Abdul Ghumman, Ibrahim Al-Salamah, Afaq Ahmad, Yousry Ghazaw, Husnain Haider, Shafiquzzaman. Evaluating the Impacts of Pumping on Aquifer Depletion in Arid Regions Using MODFLOW, ANFIS and ANN. Water. 2020; 12 (8):2297.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMohammed Almuhaylan; Abdul Ghumman; Ibrahim Al-Salamah; Afaq Ahmad; Yousry Ghazaw; Husnain Haider; Shafiquzzaman. 2020. "Evaluating the Impacts of Pumping on Aquifer Depletion in Arid Regions Using MODFLOW, ANFIS and ANN." Water 12, no. 8: 2297.
Aquatic centres (ACs) are becoming exceedingly popular in the urban agglomerations of cold climate countries like Canada but functioning without assessing the state of their sustainability performance. Previous studies examined health and safety, water and indoor air quality, and energy consumption aspects without aiming at the holistic sustainability performance assessment. The present research is the first systematic effort for benchmarking of ACs. A hierarchical-based framework arranged 81 performance indicators to appraise the key components, including water management, indoor environment, personnel, service quality, energy, social, and operations. Fuzzy AHP and fuzzy mean clustering methods evaluated the identified PIs based on the opinion of experts (from Canadian aquatic centres) on their importance, measurability, and understandability. Finally, the selection process ranked a set of 63 most suitable PIs under 14 sub-criteria. Fuzzy-based methods efficiently handled the subjective scoring process and the difference of opinion among the experts. The criteria performance indices inform the top-level management while the sub-indices stipulate the operations management for honing in the lacking indicators. Using the selected PIs, the AC's management can allocate the available resources for both the short-term (e.g., efficient response to complaints) and long-term (e.g., replacing failed manually operated fixtures with the sensor-operated ones) improvement actions. The selected PIs will enhance the sustainability of ACs in Canada and other cold regions around the globe through a structured benchmarking process.
Sana Saleem; Husnain Haider; Guangji Hu; Kasun Hewage; Rehan Sadiq. Performance indicators for aquatic centres in Canada: Identification and selection using fuzzy based methods. Science of The Total Environment 2020, 751, 141619 .
AMA StyleSana Saleem, Husnain Haider, Guangji Hu, Kasun Hewage, Rehan Sadiq. Performance indicators for aquatic centres in Canada: Identification and selection using fuzzy based methods. Science of The Total Environment. 2020; 751 ():141619.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSana Saleem; Husnain Haider; Guangji Hu; Kasun Hewage; Rehan Sadiq. 2020. "Performance indicators for aquatic centres in Canada: Identification and selection using fuzzy based methods." Science of The Total Environment 751, no. : 141619.
Conventional diamond interchanges are facing ever-growing challenges related to traffic operations and safety risks due to increasing traffic volumes and worsening congestions. The agencies are well aware of the high socioeconomic (e.g., user delay cost, fuel cost, and high accident rates) and environmental losses (traffic emissions due to vehicles queuing) associated with the conventional interchange design. This paper provides insight into the different factors that affect the sustainability performance (operational and safety) of a conventional interchange through its redesign into the Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) with the increased left-turn demand. It also assesses the need to redesign an interchange to improve the efficiency. Two interchanges that have DDI designs were selected for investigations, and the required data were collected from the relevant agency. The average delay and the capacity were used as the Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs) for data analysis. Numerous factors, that affected these MOEs, were used to design an experiment. This experiment included different levels of volumes, geometric designs, and signal plans. The micro-simulation software (VISSIM 8.0) was employed to calibrate and validate the existing conditions through several steps, including signal optimization and driving behavior parameter optimization. The analysis of the results detected the key thresholds of switching from the conventional design to the innovative design under 90 different scenarios. Finally, the sustainability evaluation of DDI and Conventional Design Interchange was conducted based on their operation and safety performance comparison. The results and findings of this research will act as a guideline for decision-makers regarding when they should consider switching from the conventional interchange design to an innovative design.
Meshal Almoshaogeh; Hatem Abou-Senna; Essam Radwan; Husnain Haider. Sustainable Design of Diverging Diamond Interchange: Development of Warrants for Improving Operational Performance. Sustainability 2020, 12, 5840 .
AMA StyleMeshal Almoshaogeh, Hatem Abou-Senna, Essam Radwan, Husnain Haider. Sustainable Design of Diverging Diamond Interchange: Development of Warrants for Improving Operational Performance. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (14):5840.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMeshal Almoshaogeh; Hatem Abou-Senna; Essam Radwan; Husnain Haider. 2020. "Sustainable Design of Diverging Diamond Interchange: Development of Warrants for Improving Operational Performance." Sustainability 12, no. 14: 5840.
In Canada, higher educational institutions (HEIs) are responsible for a significant portion of energy consumption and anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Improving the environmental performance of HEIs is an important step to achieve nationwide impact reduction. Academic buildings are among the largest infrastructure units in HEIs. Therefore, it is crucial to improve the environmental performance of academic buildings during their operations. Identifying critical academic buildings posing high impacts calls for methodologies that can holistically assess the environmental performance of buildings with respect to water and energy consumption, and GHG emission. This study proposes a fuzzy clustering approach to classify academic buildings in an HEI and benchmark their environmental performance in terms of water, energy, and carbon flows. To account for the fuzzy uncertainties in partitioning, the fuzzy c-means algorithm is employed to classify the buildings based on water, energy, and carbon flow indicators. The application of the developed methodology is demonstrated by a case study of 71 academic buildings in the University of British Columbia, Canada. The assessed buildings are grouped into three clusters representing different levels of performances with different degrees of membership. The environmental performance of each cluster is then benchmarked. Based on the results, the environmental performances of academic buildings are holistically determined, and the building clusters associated with low environmental performances are identified for potential improvements. The subsequent benchmark will allow HEIs to compare the impacts of academic building operations and set realistic targets for impact reduction.
Abdulaziz Alghamdi; Guangji Hu; Husnain Haider; Kasun Hewage; Rehan Sadiq. Benchmarking of Water, Energy, and Carbon Flows in Academic Buildings: A Fuzzy Clustering Approach. Sustainability 2020, 12, 4422 .
AMA StyleAbdulaziz Alghamdi, Guangji Hu, Husnain Haider, Kasun Hewage, Rehan Sadiq. Benchmarking of Water, Energy, and Carbon Flows in Academic Buildings: A Fuzzy Clustering Approach. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (11):4422.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAbdulaziz Alghamdi; Guangji Hu; Husnain Haider; Kasun Hewage; Rehan Sadiq. 2020. "Benchmarking of Water, Energy, and Carbon Flows in Academic Buildings: A Fuzzy Clustering Approach." Sustainability 12, no. 11: 4422.
Urban highways users frequently face disruptions due to construction and maintenance of buried infrastructure. In conventional open cut construction, social costs (vehicle operating and traffic delay costs) are generally high at work zone construction areas (WZCA). Municipalities also bear additional costs due to early maintenance of alternate routes, i.e., non-work zone construction area (NWZCA). Besides, work zone and non-work zone areas together experience significant potential socio-economic and environment impacts. In addition to minimal disturbance to existing socioenvironmental setting and user cost savings, trenchless construction result in agency cost savings by avoiding early maintenance at NWZCA. Past studies primarily focused on social costs associated to WZCA. In present research, a sustainability assessment framework has been developed that includes agency and user costs at both the work zone and non-work zone area. The framework evaluates various traffic detoured scenarios (for open cut construction) and trenchless technology scenario based on all three dimensions of sustainability. Fuzzy Quality Function Deployment (Fuzzy QFD) method has been used to incorporate the interaction between the agency’s sustainability objectives and public expectations for large-sized pipeline construction projects in urban areas. The framework effectively handles the uncertainties associated to data limitations and vagueness in expert opinion for subjective assessment criteria. To evaluate the pragmatism of proposed framework, it was applied on the case of a storm sewer construction project in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia. Trenchless technology was found to be the most sustainable construction scenario followed by the open cut scenario with 50% traffic detoured to NWCA. The proposed methodology is also sought to enhance decision making process pertaining to the viability of trenchless technologies in KSA and elsewhere.
Majed Alinizzi; Husnain Haider; Meshal Almoshaogeh; Fawaz Alharbi; Saleh M. Alogla; Gamal A. Al-Saadi. Sustainability Assessment of Construction Technologies for Large Pipelines on Urban Highways: Scenario Analysis using Fuzzy QFD. Sustainability 2020, 12, 2648 .
AMA StyleMajed Alinizzi, Husnain Haider, Meshal Almoshaogeh, Fawaz Alharbi, Saleh M. Alogla, Gamal A. Al-Saadi. Sustainability Assessment of Construction Technologies for Large Pipelines on Urban Highways: Scenario Analysis using Fuzzy QFD. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (7):2648.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMajed Alinizzi; Husnain Haider; Meshal Almoshaogeh; Fawaz Alharbi; Saleh M. Alogla; Gamal A. Al-Saadi. 2020. "Sustainability Assessment of Construction Technologies for Large Pipelines on Urban Highways: Scenario Analysis using Fuzzy QFD." Sustainability 12, no. 7: 2648.
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) has been recognized as a serious water quality problem in natural water bodies receiving pollution loads from point and nonpoint sources. The present study investigates the spatiotemporal variability of DOM composition in the Kushiro River and its tributaries (Eastern Hokkaido, Japan) impacted by the Kushiro wetland. Water samples were collected in the wet and dry seasons from several locations of the river and analyzed for DOM characteristics by UV-visible and excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy techniques and by developing water quality index. Rather than the spatial effect, significant seasonal impacts on DOM pollution in the Kushiro River were observed. Overall concentrations of DOM decreased during the dry season. The increase of specific ultraviolet absorbance in the dry season indicated an increasing trend of humification, aromaticity and molecular weight of DOM. Five fluorescent peaks, including peaks A, C, M, B, and T were predicted by EEM spectra. Peaks A and C were found to be the most dominating peaks in both the seasons and indicated enrichment of humic-like matters in river water. The intensities of poly-aromatic humic substances as well as DOM components of microbial origin increase in the wet season and proteins like autochthonous DOM increase during the dry season. The study recognized the contribution of freshly produced DOM component by the decomposition of wetland plants in wet season and effect of snowfall in the dry season. Analysis of three fluorescence indices revealed that the river water primarily contains terrestrially dominated DOM. A significant impact of the adjacent WWTPs and wetland to the river water DOM were also observed. The water quality index of river water DOM showed low to medium levels of DOM pollution in the Kushiro River.
Shafiquzzaman; Husnain Haider; Muhammed A. Bhuiyan; Abdelkader T. Ahmed; Saleem S. AlSaleem; Abdul Razzaq Ghumman. Spatiotemporal variations of DOM components in the Kushiro River impacted by a wetland. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 2020, 27, 18287 -18302.
AMA StyleShafiquzzaman, Husnain Haider, Muhammed A. Bhuiyan, Abdelkader T. Ahmed, Saleem S. AlSaleem, Abdul Razzaq Ghumman. Spatiotemporal variations of DOM components in the Kushiro River impacted by a wetland. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 2020; 27 (15):18287-18302.
Chicago/Turabian StyleShafiquzzaman; Husnain Haider; Muhammed A. Bhuiyan; Abdelkader T. Ahmed; Saleem S. AlSaleem; Abdul Razzaq Ghumman. 2020. "Spatiotemporal variations of DOM components in the Kushiro River impacted by a wetland." Environmental Science and Pollution Research 27, no. 15: 18287-18302.
Mountainous terrains have high potential for the development of run-of-river-type small-sized hydropower plants (SHPs). Prioritizing a large number of SHP sites based on their technical, economic, and socio-environmental constraints with limited data is a daunting task. A multilevel framework is developed for effective decision-making at different phases of the project. At level 1, a screening process (based on subjective rating) prioritizes a larger set of potential SHP sites using fuzzy-based multicriteria decision-making method (Fuzzy-MCDM), i.e. pre-feasibility phase. At level 2, the top ranked sites can be evaluated, with additional data, based on their preliminary design and sustainability objectives using the fuzzy quality function deployment (Fuzzy-QFD) method, i.e. feasibility phase. At level 3, collection and analysis of more extensive data are carried out at detailed design phase of the top ranked sites (in level 2) before their implementation. Impact of climate change on design discharge is assessed for optimal design of the SHP using global climate change model and Hydrologic Engineering Centre-Hydraulic Modelling System. The proposed framework is applied on five potential SHP sites in Swat and Chitral districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. Finally, the SHP sites were prioritized and the most optimal SHP site out of the five was designated for optimal design. Decision-makers around the globe can apply the framework for identification of most sustainable sites at similar mountainous terrains and their subsequent implementation through private sector, public sector, and public private partnership.
Abdul Razzaq Ghumman; Husnain Haider; Irfan Yousuf; Shafiquzzaman. Sustainable Development of Small-Sized Hydropower Plants: Multilevel Decision-Making from Site Selection to Optimal Design. Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering 2020, 45, 4141 -4159.
AMA StyleAbdul Razzaq Ghumman, Husnain Haider, Irfan Yousuf, Shafiquzzaman. Sustainable Development of Small-Sized Hydropower Plants: Multilevel Decision-Making from Site Selection to Optimal Design. Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering. 2020; 45 (5):4141-4159.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAbdul Razzaq Ghumman; Husnain Haider; Irfan Yousuf; Shafiquzzaman. 2020. "Sustainable Development of Small-Sized Hydropower Plants: Multilevel Decision-Making from Site Selection to Optimal Design." Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering 45, no. 5: 4141-4159.