Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia Government Research Articles

The impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions on the spread of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia: Simulation approach

ObjectivesThis paper aims to measure the impact of the implemented nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) during the pandemic using simulation modeling. MethodsTo measure the impact of NPI, a hybrid agent-based and system dynamics simulation model was built and validated. Data were collected prospectively on a weekly basis. The core epidemiological model is based on a complex Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered and Dead model of epidemic dynamics. Reverse engineering was performed on a weekly basis throughout the study period as a mean for model validation which reported on four outcomes: total cases, active cases, ICU cases, and deaths cases. To measure the impact of each NPI, the observed values of active and total cases were captured and compared to the projected values of active and total cases from the simulation. To measure the impact of each NPI, the study period was divided into rounds of incubation periods (cycles of 14 days each). The behavioral change of the spread of the disease was interpreted as the impact of NPIs that occurred at the beginning of the cycle. The behavioral change was measured by the change in the initial reproduction rate (R0). ResultsAfter 18 weeks of the reverse engineering process, the model achieved a 0.4 % difference in total cases for prediction at the end of the study period. The results estimated that NPIs led to 64 % change in The R0. Our breakdown analysis of the impact of each NPI indicates that banning going to schools had the greatest impact on the infection reproduction rate (24 %). ConclusionWe used hybrid simulation modeling to measure the impact of NPIs taken by the KSA government. The finding further supports the notion that early NPIs adoption can effectively limit the spread of COVID-19. It also supports using simulation for building mathematical modeling for epidemiological scenarios.

Gap Analysis of data for urban transport planning in the developing countries: Comparative study of United Kingdom (UK) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

This study performed a gap analysis of data for urban transport planning in two countries, one developing, and one developed with a view to conducting a gap analysis in the two countries and then comparing the results. The study commenced with an exploration of the background study of the research area by highlighting the importance of data collection and the types of data that are collected for urban transport planning. The specific types of data that are identified as collected were listed in order to enable the contextualisation of the work to be carried out in the subsequent sections of the study. Furthermore, the identified data collection methods in transport planning were identified and discussed, the key methods were highlighted, and the future directions identified in the background area were discussed. Thereafter, the activities directed towards the collection of data and the actual collection of data for public transport planning in the UK and KSA were discussed. The gap analysis showed that the UK has a robust framework for the collection of data for urban transport planning which the KSA does not, and in fact it was discovered that the most importance concern of the KSA government is how to reduce the number of private motor vehicles on its roads and increase the number of buses, and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a currently a serious cause for concern. The UK also needs to concentrate more on the collection of data for the management of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs), and Mobility as a Service (MaaS), in preparation for the deployment of both forms of transport.

Impact of religious tourism on the economic development, energy consumption and environmental degradation: evidence from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Diseño/metodología/enfoqueSe desarrolla la relación empírica entre las variables mediante el muestreo de los datos de 35 años que van de 1986 a 2020. La regresión entre las variables se comprobó empleando modelos de mínimos cuadrados ordinarios totalmente modificados (FMOLS) y mínimos cuadrados ordinarios dinámicos (DOLS)ObjetivoArabia Saudí es el principal destino de turismo religioso porque cuenta con numerosos lugares espirituales. Con el paso de los años, las cifras de visitas de peregrinos están aumentando, lo que contribuye al crecimiento económico del Reino de Arabia Saudí (KSA). Sin embargo, las visitas de los peregrinos pueden crear fuertes costes de oportunidad en forma de degradación medioambiental. A partir de estos indicadores, este análisis busca descubrir el impacto del turismo religioso en la calidad del entorno natural de Arabia Saudí.ConclusionesEl análisis demuestra que el turismo religioso tiene un impacto directo en la degradación medioambiental de KSA. Las incesantes visitas de los peregrinos aceleran diversas operaciones y actividades económicas, como la adquisición y consumo de productos industriales, etc., que necesariamente dificultan la calidad medioambiental. Además, el análisis indica un impacto negativo en el desarrollo financiero, la inversión extranjera y el consumo de energías renovables, así como el impacto de la asimilación de combustibles fósiles y la expansión económica en la emisión de CO2. Los resultados estadísticos son robustos y verifican la hipótesis del efecto halo de la contaminación, al tiempo que rechazan el modelo de la curva de Kuznets ambiental (EKC) en esta región.Limitaciones/implicaciones de la investigaciónEl análisis recomienda reestructurar las políticas sobre las visitas al hajj y la Umrah. El gobierno de KSA debería garantizar el consumo ecológico de los peregrinos. La limitación de las visitas de los peregrinos y la introducción de cuotas son políticas alternativas para impedir la contaminación en esta región.Originalidad/valorAl controlar los determinantes frecuentes, este estudio ofrece reflexiones innovadoras sobre las consecuencias del turismo religioso en la calidad del medio ambiente.

Supply Chain Readiness for Solar PV Expansion in Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has an ambitious plan to install 40 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity via large scale projects (majority of which are >100 MW) across the country by 2030. These projects are required to achieve a threshold percentage of the overall project cost as in country expenditure, termed “local content”. This threshold will rise to 40–45% by 2028, ensuring solar projects do not simply become investment opportunities for overseas companies but deliver jobs and skills development within the Kingdom. Local content is assessed across all aspects of a PV system—module, inverter, structure, etc. Typically, the PV module cost can range between ~34% to ~44% of the overall system cost. However, 56% of this module cost represents the manufacture of the solar cells. To maximise local content, the opportunity for KSA lies in module fabrication of imported solar cells. This study assesses the capacity readiness of the KSA to meet this opportunity in relation to its 2030 targets and the current policy landscape. The recently completed 300 MW Sakaka project had a local content of >30% based on the developers’ website and >35% based on our private communication. Our results indicate that this would rise by 19% for a project like Sakaka if all modules were fabricated in-country rather than being imported. The work also projected a shortfall in terms of in-country module fabrication capacity with clear implications to local content targets. The results show a shortfall in the range of 35% to 75% by 2030 depending on the adopted KSA energy policies and government support. KSA is seen to have good capacity in other PV components such as steel and float glass. In-country distribution of imported solar cells to module fabrication centres and subsequent distribution to PV farm sites has also been assessed. Our analyses indicate that a two-location solution reduces cost with new module fabrication capacity sited near Jeddah and Riyadh, minimising storage times, delivery time to site and distribution waiting times.

NCOVID-19 outcomes on curfews and lockdown: Precautionary decisions in Saudi Arabia

ObjectivesCoronavirus (nCOVID-19) cases are increasing not only daily but also hourly worldwide. Therefore, it is important to look into how developed countries are managing this pandemic and also observe their experiences and estimations in dissimilar consequences. In this study, we compared the results of the precautionary measurements taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and higher officials on the outcome of the nCOVID-19. MethodsWe examined all the current pandemic related data, including the total number of cases, total recovered, total deaths with the curfew phases, and the various actions taken by Saudi's Ministry of Health, World Health Organization, Web of Science, Sci Finder, MEDLINE, and the Worldometer. The total number of cases, recovered cases, deaths, and peak days were templated using Microsoft Excel sheets and graphs. ResultsDuring this pandemic, the KSA government released many services such as smartphone-based apps and media campaigns to control the spread and contact of the virus among people. All these early extreme precautionary measures and services implemented by the KSA government reduce the number of deaths from the nCOVID-19 in Saudi Arabia. The curfew phases enforced by the government recorded few deaths during the first two phases, whereas a noticeable increase in the number of deaths and the total number of cases were recorded during Phase 3. ConclusionsAll these limitations and precautionary measures, including the different phases of curfew, assumed a significant role in restricting the spread of nCOVID-19 and reducing the number of cases and deaths among people. Public Summary AbstractCoronavirus (nCOVID-19) outbreak has shocked the world causing more cases than the latest global epidemics. It is necessary to specify how developed countries managing this pandemic outbreak. In this study, we lined up to compare the results of the precautionary measurements taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on the outcome of the nCOVID-19. All current pandemic related data: total cases, total recovered, total deaths and actions were congregate from Saudi's Ministry of Health (MoH), World Health Organization (WHO). Total number of cases, recovered cases and deaths were templated by using Microsoft Excel sheets and graphs. The KSA government had released many services including smartphone-based apps, and media campaigns to control the spread and contact to the nCOVID-19 positive persons. All these limitations and precautionary measures including different phases of curfew assumed a significant role in restricting the spread of nCOVID-19 and reduce cases and deaths numbers.

PRODUCTIVITY IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Since the late 1990s, the construction industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has lagged behind the rest of the world in actual levels of productivity and productivity growth. This is despite the KSA Government’s tremendous support for the construction industry and the expectation that, in the coming decades, the KSA construction industry will continue to develop and grow to achieve the targets of Saudi Vision 2030. This paper explores in depth the concept of productivity to gain insights through answering two questions contextualized within the KSA construction industry: 1) How do managers perceive productivity? and 2) How is productivity measured? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 senior managers with 10-27 years’ experience in project management in the KSA construction industry. Qualitative analysis of interview results found that around 40% of interviewees had little or an incorrect understanding of the concept of productivity and its relevance to production processes. This poor understanding of productivity and its measures extends to the lack of clear specific procedures for regular measurement of productivity.

Cloud Computing Adoption at Higher Educational Institutions in the KSA for Sustainable Development

Rapid changes in the advancements of information and communication technologies (ICT) have prompted Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to enhance teaching and learning. Over the years, cloud computing (CC) has become an emerging and adoptable paradigm in many industries including healthcare, finance, and law with its promising benefits. This trend is also growing in the field of education around the globe. Due to its inherent qualities of reliability, scalability, flexibility and reasonable cost, cloud is the solution that addressed the accessibility issue for quality education. CC plays an important role and will have major impacts on HEIs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in the near future. HEIs are used to utilize the benefits of CC based services provided by the cloud service providers (CSPs). The CSP can be owned by the KSA government, private, or third-party vendors. By using cloud-based services at HEIs, staff, faculty, and students can utilize its services to perform various academic responsibilities on demand. This paper aims to adopt CC for HEIs and explore the prominent features and potential benefits of adopting cloud services in the HEIs of KSA. This paper also reveals numerous challenges, impacts, and major issues involved in adopting cloud services for HEIs.

Oil Subsidies and Renewable Energy in Saudi Arabia: A General Equilibrium Approach

ABSTRACT In 2016, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) announced its Vision 2030 strategic plan incorporating major changes to the economic structure of the country, including an intention to deploy 9.5 GW of renewable energy in an effort to reduce the penetration of oil in the electricity generation system. This paper assesses the macroeconomic impact of such changes in the KSA, coupled with reductions in implicit energy subsidies. Based on a dynamic general equilibrium model, our analysis suggests that if the KSA government were to deploy a relatively small quantity of renewable technology, consistent with the country’s Vision 2030 plans, there would be a positive impact on the KSA’s long run GDP and on households’ welfare. However, we demonstrate that if the integration costs of renewable technology were high, then households’ welfare would be maximized at around 30-40% renewables penetration. In addition, we show that a policy favoring renewable energy would increase the dependence of the KSA on oil, given that a larger share of GDP would be linked to oil exports and so, potentially, to oil price shocks. Finally, it is shown that exporting significantly more oil onto the international market could have a negative impact on the international oil price and thus could offset the potential gains from the renewable energy policy.

Microbial electrolysis cells for hydrogen production and urban wastewater treatment: A case study of Saudi Arabia

This paper reviews the status of microbial electrolysis cells (MEC) as a mean for hydrogen (H2) production and urban wastewater treatment method. A case study of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) under MEC concept was developed. KSA is the world’s third largest per capita water user country with no lakes and rivers. Every year, around 1.17 and 0.38 billionm3 of domestic and industrial wastewater is generated respectively. The KSA government is seeking sustainable solutions for wastewater treatment and waste-to-energy (WTE) production to bridge the ever increasing water and energy demand-supply gap. However, there is no WTE facility exists to convert the wastewater into energy. Moreover, the potential of wastewater is not examined as an energy recovery substrate. This study, for the first time, estimated that a total electricity of 434 MWe can be produced in 2015 from the KSA’s wastewater if MEC technology is employed. Similarly, an estimated total electricity of 612 and 767 MWe can be produced for the years 2025 and 2035 from the domestic and industrial wastewater by using MEC technology. A surplus electricity of 508 and 637 MWe for the years 2025 and 2035 respectively can be added to the national grid after fulfilling the energy requirement of MEC wastewater treatment plants. Collectively, MEC will contribute 20.4% and 25.6% share of the KSA government’s WTE target of 3GW in 2025 and 2035 respectively. A number of challenges in MEC such as ohmic and concentration losses, saturation kinetics and competing reactions that lower the H2 production are discussed with their potential solutions including, the improvements in MEC design and the use of appropriate electrolytes, antibiotics and air or oxygen.

Assessment of Tigecycline Prescription and Patients’ Outcomes at Three Different Hospitals in Saudi Arabia

Purpose: To investigate tigecycline prescription and patient outcomes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted in three KSA government hospitals, between January, 2013 and May, 2014. The patients were identified from electronic prescription records; data were retrieved by trained researchers.Results: Thirty-seven patients who received tigecycline were included (mean age, 52.5 years; range, 17 92); 51.4 % were female. Tigecycline was prescribed for sepsis (59.5 %), pneumonia (21.6 %), and/or intra-abdominal infections (13.5 %). The majority of the patients (86.5 %) were prescribed tigecycline in intensive care unit (ICU) and the remaining patients were in the general medical ward. APCHE II score at the beginning of treatment was 16.8 ± 4.3, indicating severe disease. Susceptibility testing revealed 22 different bacterial pathogens, most commonly Acinetobacter baumannii (20 patients) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (14 patients). A significant proportion (56.7 %) was polymicrobial and 16.2 % involved suspected resistant pathogens. Sixteen patients recovered (5 on tigecycline alone, 5 with additional antimicrobials, and six switched to alternatives) while 21 patients died (nine on tigecycline alone, 12 with additional antimicrobials).Conclusions: The study revealed that tigecycline prescription was conducted according to marketing authorizations and national guidelines. Infection severity/stage and comorbidities may influence patients’ response, and explain some of the poor outcomes.Keywords: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prescription patterns, Mortality, Tigecycline, Antimicrobial

The potential of Saudi Arabian natural zeolites in energy recovery technologies

Energy consumption in KSA (kingdom of Saudi Arabia) is growing rapidly due to economic development with raised levels of population, urbanization and living standards. Fossil fuels are currently solely used to meet the energy requirements. The KSA government have planned to double its energy generating capacity (upto 120 GW (gigawatts)) by 2032. About half of the electricity capacity of this targeted energy will come from renewable resources such as nuclear, wind, solar, WTE (waste-to-energy) etc. Natural zeolites are found abundantly in KSA at Jabal Shamah occurrence near Jeddah city, whose characteristics have never been investigated in energy related applications. This research aims to study the physical and chemical characteristics of natural zeolite in KSA and to review its potential utilization in selected WTE technologies and solar energy. The standard zeolite group of alumina–silicate minerals were found with the presence of other elements such as Na, Mg and K etc. A highly crystalline structure and thermal stability of natural zeolites together with unique ion exchange, adsorption properties, high surface area and porosity make them suitable in energy applications such as WTE and solar energy as an additive or catalyst. A simple solid–gas absorption system for storing solar energy in natural zeolites will be a cheap alternative method for KSA. In AD (anaerobic digestion), the dual characteristics of natural zeolite like Mordenite will increase the CH4 production of OFMSW (organic fraction of municipal solid waste). Further investigations are recommended to study the technical, economical, and environmental feasibility of natural zeolite utilization in WTE technologies in KSA.

Optimal design of residential building envelope systems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

In this paper, a comprehensive analysis study is presented in order to improve the energy performance of residential buildings in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) through optimizing the building envelope elements. The building envelope energy conservation measures included in the study are wall insulation, roof insulation, window area, window glazing, window shading, and thermal mass. The optimization process was based on life cycle cost and energy savings. Optimum packages of energy efficiency measures for a residential building located in five climate zones in KSA have been determined for subsidized and non-subsidized energy costs. The results showed optimal energy savings of 39.5%, 33.7%, 35%, 32.7% and 22.7% for Riyadh, Jeddah, Dhahran, Tabuk and Abha, respectively, can be obtained for the subsidized energy cost case. For the non-subsidized energy cost case, the optimal energy savings were 47.3%, 41.5%, 43.19%, 41.1% and 26% for Riyadh, Jeddah, Dhahran, Tabuk and Abha, respectively. Moreover, a sensitivity cost analysis indicated that the cost of energy has more influence on optimal energy savings and life cycle costs than the initial costs of the energy efficiency measures. Finally, this study concluded that substantial savings in annual energy costs subsidies can be achieved by the KSA government if it aggressively promotes, through investments and incentives, energy efficiency programs for both existing and new buildings.

Domestic water demand in Saudi Arabia: assessment of desalinated water as strategic supply source

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is the largest desalinated water producer in the world, and it currently produces about one-fifth of the world productions. KSA government considers seawater desalination as the strategic option to alleviate water scarcity problem, and to meet the country’s ever-growing domestic water demand. This research reviews the KSA desalination industry performance since inception to date; forecasts desalination water demand up to year 2040 in the context of three scenarios optimistic, moderate, and pessimistic; discusses the future of desalination industry as a strategic domestic water supply source and highlights its challenges. Results show that KSA will need about 2.0, 3.2, and 4.5 billion m3/year of desalinated water in the year 2040 based on optimistic, moderate, and pessimistic scenarios, respectively. The review of Saudi initiatives shows that KSA government effectively considered seawater desalination as strategic option, and implemented a comprehensive set of initiatives to realize this option. Moreover, the on-going desalination industry initiatives, coupled with some improvements, will satisfy the desalinated water demand on short-term basis. However, the long-term ability of desalination industry to meet the ever-increasing domestic water demand remains a valid concern, especially, if the moderate or pessimistic scenario is realized.