Year 8 Vol.No: (92) September 2017 Oil Price ( Monthly) US Dollar 54,63M O N T H LY N E W S

www.kjo.com

In this Issue

2

3

5

4

8

Khafji Governorate Celebrates the 87th Saudi National Day

C-JOC Exchanges Eid Greetings with KJO Employees

McIntosh makes its high-end audio tech portable

EDB Honors a Financial Analyst

in FAD

Al-Helal Inspects

Derrick Barge JOHARA- 2

Khafji Joint Operations

Extends its sincere greetings and warm congratulations

To

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques

H.R.H. King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

And

H.R.H. Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

And all Saudi People

On the occasion of the 87th National Day of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Year 8 Vol.No: (92) September 2017Joint Operation’s News

www.kjo.com 2

Khafji Governorate Celebrates the 87th Saudi National DayOn Tuesday, 06/01/1439H, Khafji Governorate arranged a special event for

Khafji Community to celebrate the 87th National Day of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, at Khafji Corniche, near King Salman Cultural Center, in the presence of Khafji Governor; Mohammad Al-Hazza, directors of government departments and AGOC President and CEO Eng. Abdullah Al-Helal, together with many government and military officials and large number of dignitaries and people. Al-Hazza started the event by extending warm congratulations and sincere greetings to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques; H.R.H. King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud and H.R.H. Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, for the 87th anniversary of Kingdom’s National Day, in remembrance of the day of unifying all parts of the Kingdom by the Founder, late King Abdul Aziz, may the Almighty rest his soul in peace. Al-Hazza and many officials participated in the Saudi folkloric dance (Ardah) in this occasion. At the end of the event, AGOC was honored for sponsoring and supporting the event.

Khafji Governorate Celebrates the 87th Saudi National Day

Kuwait Gulf Oil Company Participates with KJO Employees in the celebration of the National Day 87

Al Shaheen congratulates the employees of Al Khafji Joint Operations

The Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) has presented gifts to the Executive Directors, Managers and Superintendents of Al Khafji

Joint Operations for this precious occasion which reflects the spirit of cohesion and familiarity between the two brotherly citizens and their leadership.On the occasion of the National Day of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Al-Shaheen said: «I wish to extend my sincere congratulations and blessings to you and to all the Saudi people and continuous progress under the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Crown Prince and his wise government.

Al-Hazza and Al-Helal with participating kids

Al-Hazza honoured AGOC

EDI during National Day celebration

Year 8 Vol.No: (92) September 2017Joint Operation’s News

www.kjo.com3

Al-Helal Inspects Derrick Barge JOHARA-2On Tuesday, August 15th, 2017, AGOC

President and CEO, Eng. Abdullah Al-Helal paid an inspection visit to MSS Derrick Barge JOHARA-2, which is currently carrying out maintenance works in KJO offshore facilities, accompanied by A/EDI Eng. Mansour Al-Otaibi, MON Eng. Mohsen Al-Zobi and MIS Eng. Meshari Al-Sadoun. Al-Helal started the inspection visit by checking work progress on the Barge (floating workshop) and the equipment used in various offshore maintenance works. In this regard, Acting MSS Manager,

Eng. Khalid Al-Salami, together with the supervisors of the workshop, explained the method of using barge equipment, such as the main crane (200 tons capacity), and the mobile crane (100 tons capacity), to fabricate and install boat landings for well structures, as well as the maintenance of SBM buoys at Sea Berth Area, and their accessories under loading facilities of oil transport, together with the comprehensive regular maintenance of flow stations at Khafji Field. They demonstrated also the method of laying submarine pipelines and cables, and connecting them to the

oil headers, on well jackets at oil fields, regarding the various production works and assisting in drilling new wells. Al-Helal then inspected the diving equipment and watched live the diving activities through the screens of the control room, and viewed the mechanical works carried out by the divers in the water 45 meters deep in the water; such as repairing subsea lines and cleaning seabed to facilitate the entry of rigs approaching the sea platforms as well as fixing and maintaining the buoys. Thereafter, Al-Helal checked the certificates

of crane operators and the cables used in lifting activities, the certificates of divers, and inspected all equipment of the workshop, which is used in the offshore maintenance works. Emergency plan procedures were checking in line with the international safety standards applicable in this regard. At the end of the inspection visit, Al-Helal emphasized strict compliance with the international safety and security procedures to ensure the safety and security of all employees and facilities in Khafji Joint Operations.

Al-Helal Inspects Derrick Barge JOHARA- 2

Al-helal in a group photo with inspection team

Various site visits and inspections

Joint Operation’s News

www.kjo.com 4

Year 8 Vol.No: (92) September 2017

On Wednesday, September 6th, 2017, C-JOC Eng. Saeed Al-Shaheen

exchanged Eid Al-Adha greetings with KJO employees in presence of A/EDI Eng. Mansour Al-Otaibi and A/EDB Marai Abbas

and number of department managers at Office Park’s reception room. On this occasion, Al-Shaheen extended his greetings to the leaderships of two brotherly countries the Kingdom of Saudi

Arabia and the State of Kuwait, and to all KJO employees, and wished them many more happy returns. It is worth mentioning that KJO is keen to arrange this event every year to foster

relations and enhance communication and teamwork between KJO executives and employees.

C-JOC Exchanges Eid Greetings with KJO Employees

Al-Shaheen during the Eid greetings

A side of the Eid greetings

Joint Operation’s News

www.kjo.com5

Year 8 Vol.No: (92) September 2017

On Tuesday, September 12th, 2017, the Oil & Gas

Middle East and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East 2017

Awards recognized Saudi Aramco for the ‘Technical Innovation of the Year’ award for the second consecutive year, and Sadara

Chemical Company for winning the ‘Downstream Project of the Year’ title for the second time in a row, and for having the best

‘Training Initiative/Program of the Year’ 2017, regarding its flagship ‘Sadara Apprenticeship Program. Moreover, the Oil & Gas and RPME

2017 Awards recognized Aramco Gulf Operations for “CSR Initiative of the Year”.

On Wednesday, August 30th, 2017, EDB Abdulrauf Allarakia honored FAD

Financial Analyst; Mr. Rao, at his office in the presence of A/MAF Mohammad Al-Jasim and

Superintendent Yousef Al-Harbi, for his long years of service in Khafji Joint Operations. In this occasion, Al-Jasim stated “Mr. Rao was energetic, laborious and disciplined employee.

We are missing you, Mr. Rao as great colleague who stand tall in hours of need. I could say, you are wonderful, your spirit and energy will always guide us to move forward. Wishing

you very best in your medical treatment and happy life thereafter. Good luck”.

EDB Honors a Financial Analyst in FAD

Oil & Gas and RPME

2017 Awards

On September 20th, 2017, TMD arranged a meeting

with the representatives of the local government departments, at PGD Meeting Room, to discuss the events of Beach Clean-up Day, which will be organized on October 24th, 2017. The meeting was presided by the General Supervisor of the Event; Ibrahim Al-Suwaid, and the roles and tasks were assigned to the concerned departments accordingly. This event is organized every year by the Regional Clean Sea Organization (RECSO), and KJO participates in such event and campaign out of its firm commitment toward the marine environment.

TMD Meets Official Representatives to Arrange for Beach Clean-up Day

Allarakia honouring Rao with memorial gift Allarakia with Rao in a memorial photo

Group photo of participants

A side of the meeting

Panorama

www.kjo.com 6

Safety

Management

Workplace safety cannot exist on best practice guidelines and policies alone. A safe working environment is based

on how well the people, in both management and on the factory floor, adhere to — and communicate about — safety standards.The foundation of any successful workplace safety effort is one that encourages employees to identify unsafe behaviors and opportunities for improvement while also making well-informed safety decisions during daily routine tasks.Copy of Shocking Costs Electrical Incidents.pngHere’s the Top 10 Workplace Safety Tips Every Employee Should Know to help you inform your own workers and create a workplace safety environment based on shared responsibil-ity:1) Be Aware Of Your SurroundingsThis step requires knowing the particular hazards of your job or workplace. Once you’ve learned these risks, you are able to keep clear of potential hazardous areas, and potential hazard-ous situations. Also, always be alert of machinery.2) Keep Correct Posture To Protect Your BackIf you work at a desk, keep your shoulders in line with your hips to avoid back problems. If you’re picking things up, use correct form so your back doesn’t get hurt. Avoid stooping and twisting. If possible, always use ergonomic designed fur-niture and safety equipment so everything you need is within easy reach.3) Take Regular BreaksSo many work-related injuries and illnesses occur because a worker is tired, burned out and not alert to their surroundings. Taking regular breaks helps you stay fresh on the job. One trick to staying alert is to schedule the most difficult tasks when your concentration is best, like first thing in the morning.4) Use Tools And Machines ProperlyTake the proper precautions when using tools, and never take shortcuts. Taking shortcuts is one of the leading cause of workplace injury. It’s a huge safety risk to use scaffolding as a ladder or one tool in place of another for a specific job. Using tools the right way greatly reduces the chance of workplace injury.5) Keep Emergency Exits Easily AccessibleIn case of an emergency, you’ll need quick, easy access to the exits. It’s also recommended to keep clear access to equip-ment shutoffs in case you need to quickly stop them from functioning.6) Report Unsafe Conditions To Your SupervisorYour supervisor needs to be informed about any workplace safety hazards or risks. They are legally obligated to ensure their employees have a safe working environment and will take care of the unsafe conditions and make them safe for you and your coworkers.7) Use Mechanical Aids Whenever PossibleInstead of attempting to carry or lift something that’s really heavy in an attempt to save a sliver of time during your work-day, take the extra minute to use a wheelbarrow, conveyor belt, crank or forklift. Too many injury risks are involved with trying to lift something that weighs too much.8) Stay SoberAround three percent of workplace fatalities occur due to al-cohol and drugs. When a worker’s ability to exercise judgment, coordination, motor control, concentration or alertness is compromised, this leads to any number of risks for workplace injury and fatalities.9) Reduce Workplace StressStress can lead to depression and concentration problems. Common causes of workplace stress include long hours, heavy workload, job insecurity and conflicts with coworkers or managers. Take your concerns about workplace stress to your supervisor to see how they might help you address them.10) Wear The Correct Safety EquipmentIf you’re not wearing the correct safety equipment for a task, you may get injured. Depending on the job, equipment like earplugs, earmuffs, hard hats, safety goggles, gloves or a full-face mask greatly reduce the risk of workplace injury.It’s up to facility managers and business owners to get their employees onboard with workplace safety efforts, encourag-ing them to become active members in the process. Share with them the workplace injury statistics and the inherent risks their job presents to them on a daily basis. Provide incentives that reward them for exemplifying great workplace safety behavior. These simple initiatives really do make all of the difference.

Science

Year 8 Vol.No: (92) September 2017

The concept of equity involves looking at a situation and identifying the variables

— the people involved, the resources at play and the situational factors — and then asking yourself these questions:Tenet one: people exchange work for rewardsPeople work for rewards. Plain and simple. I don’t know anybody who goes to a job and doesn’t expect to get anything in return. Many managers assume that the salary, hourly wage or contract rate for coming to work is enough. But they’re wrong. In fact, the number-one reason people quit their job is bad bosses, not bad wages.Your employees need to feel they’re being compensated fairly for the value they’re providing. In a managerial capacity, you need to know what makes your employees tick. This compensation is not just monetary. Increased responsibility, availability of resources, collaborative opportunities, continual feedback, managerial support and professional-development opportunities are all ways to reward employees. At the end of the day, employees want to know they’re getting

just as much as they’re putting in, and that they’re making a difference in the workplace and beyond.If you want to treat employees equitably, don’t assume all rewards are created equal for all employees. For example, a $100 restaurant gift card isn’t going to make Dylan feel the same way as Jaime — Dylan would much rather have a gift card to a bookstore. Blanket and generic signs of appreciation often fall flat because they assume everyone is the same and show that you’re treating everyone the same. The best managers know how each employee likes to be rewarded.Tenet two: people actively search for empowering environmentsIn addition to working for rewards, we also seek to work in environments where we’re treated fairly, and where we’re empowered to contribute in a meaningful way. If the first tenet is met, employees feel more pride and responsibility in the work they perform. To take this further, empower your employees and provide them with the resources necessary to grow. When employees feel a company is invested in

their success, they’re more likely to work harder and produce more.Related: Creating Sales Presentations That Convince Prospects to BuyA lack of professional-development opportunities is one of the top reasons people leave jobs. When you’re onboarding new employees or recruiting top talent, this type of environment is what will attract. To foster this environment, leaders need to know what makes each person motivated, what professional aspirations employees have and how to best empower each and every person. Gaining this information requires dynamic, proactive communication.Tenet three: people feel stressed when they’re treated unfairlyInequity breeds disappointment. Disappointment yields stress. Stress results in a loss of productivity. When employees feel they’re being treated unfairly, they become less productive.If an employee finds out a peer is making more money for performing the same role, a manager is spending extra time with one person, or someone’s ideas are unfairly

The 4 Rules of Treating Employees Equitably

What makes a hurricane tick? Whether it’s a disheveled tropical depression

or a picture-perfect category five swirling across the ocean like a buzzsaw, every tropical cyclone that forms on Earth has the same basic structure. These powerful storms are just as fragile as they are mighty, and there’s a fine line between atmospheric fury and a flimsy blob of harmless clouds.IngredientsTropical cyclones—the catch-all term for tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes—require four key ingredients in order to form: existing thunderstorms, warm water, moist air, and light winds.These storms feed off of the heat energy released by warm ocean waters, so they usually develop where sea surface temperatures are at least 80°F. There also must be ample moisture in the air to help the thunderstorms thrive. Winds around the storm have to be light so they don’t disrupt the system from taking shape. It’s rare that all of these conditions come together perfectly. But when they do, we can get historic storms like Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Irma, which wreak havoc when they make landfall.The sparkEvery tropical cyclone starts from a cluster of thunderstorms. These thunderstorms can be triggered by anything from a potent disturbance moving off the western African coast to the tail-end of a cold front stalling out in just the right spot over the ocean.

Air rushing upward into a thunderstorm can leave lower air pressure at the surface. Surrounding air rushes in to fill the void and begins to rotate due to the Coriolis effect, creating the counterclockwise flow that makes a closed low-pressure system. The low-pressure center will get stronger as the thunderstorms get stronger, pulling more air up and away from the surface.These newly-formed storms are usually called tropical depressions. A tropical depression’s winds are weak—less than 39 MPH—and they don’t look like much on satellite imagery. But tropical depressions often have potential to grow into something more, and they can still produce copious amounts of rain along their path.The eyewallIf the environment is favorable, the thunderstorms in a tropical depression will begin wrapping around the center of circulation as the low-pressure center grows stronger and the thunderstorms themselves grow more potent. This formation allows wind speeds to grow stronger as well. A tropical cyclone strengthens into a tropical storm

when its winds are between 39 and 73 MPH.A tropical storm will quickly start to take on that classic look as it gains strength. Rain bands will develop and start spiraling around the storm. These bands act like elongated lines of storms, bringing heavy rain, damaging winds, and occasional tornadoes as they pass through an area. The bands will grow more intense and more frequent as the center of the storm draws closer.The strong thunderstorms around the center of circulation eventually form into a feature known as the eyewall—the engine that powers a tropical cyclone. The strongest winds in a tropical cyclone are found in the northeastern part of the eyewall, where the storm’s forward motion adds to the momentum.The eyeAll of the air sucked up by thunderstorms in a cyclone’s eyewall has to go somewhere. The buildup of air at high altitudes creates an anticyclone, or a center of high air pressure. This anticyclone develops above the tropical cyclone, and acts like an exhaust pipe that helps filter air out and away from the storm. That helps the storm “breathe,” so to speak,

and keeps it healthy. The anticyclone is also responsible for creating the sharp, spoke-like cirrus clouds that give a strong hurricane the appearance of a buzzsaw.Some of that air ends up descending back down into the center of the storm, in an attempt to fill the great imbalance caused by the strong low-pressure center at the surface. This air warms up and dries out as it descends, creating the clear eye that makes these storms so easily recognizable from above. The eye of a storm can take on all different shapes and sizes. Some eyes are wider than entire islands, while some are just a couple of miles in diameter. As a storm grows stronger, its eye gets ever more defined.How warm water fuels a stormOne thing that sets tropical cyclones apart from all the other storms on Earth is that they feed off of warm ocean waters. But how does warm water translate into a monstrous

hurricane? One theory states that a hurricane’s strong winds help feed the storm heat from the ocean in a positive feedback loop. The heat helps make the storm stronger and, in turn, the stronger winds feed the hurricane even more heat from the warm ocean surface.Warm water feeds hurricanes through latent heat release. The easiest way to visualize latent heat is to think of how you feel on the hottest summer day. Your first instinct after spending a long time outside is to lunge for a fan. It blows air across your sweaty skin, and the evaporating sweat helps cool you down. The sweat droplets absorb heat from the surface of your skin as they turn into water vapor—this is latent heat.A similar process plays out at the ocean surface as a hurricane spins up. The WISHE theory states that strong winds generated by thunderstorms agitate the warm ocean surface and enhance evaporation. The evaporating water absorbs the sultry heat of the tropical ocean surface, and the water vapor travels up into the thunderstorms at the heart of the tropical cyclone.This latent heat gets released into the atmosphere when the water vapor condenses back into water droplets, and it’s this process that feeds the thunderstorms the warmth of the ocean. The newly-warmed air quickly rises through the storm, helping the thunderstorms grow stronger. Stronger thunderstorms suck more air up into the atmosphere, causing even lower air pressure at the surface. The lower pressure helps make the winds even stronger. The stronger winds cause even more evaporation. The process continues until you have a powerful, beefy hurricane; in a perfect environment, a hurricane’s potential strength is only limited by the warmth of the water beneath the storm.The ocean is often hostileBut perfect environments are rare. If it spins over an expanse of cooler waters, a storm will quickly start to fall apart. A tropical cyclone that ingests dry air will struggle and sputter out as its thunderstorms weaken and dissipate. Wind shear, the change in wind speed or direction over a short distance, is the death of many storms; most that have formed in the Atlantic Ocean over the past couple of years struggled so against wind shear that they died down within days. Strong winds will shred apart the thunderstorms at the center of a storm, or push the storms too far away from the center of circulation for the system to survive. In most cases, these factors will nip any would-be tropical cyclone in the bud. But of course, forecasters must remain vigilant for signs of those relatively rare—but potentially disastrous—exceptions.

The anatomy of a hurricane

Panorama

www.kjo.com7

Environment Health

For most of us, temptations are everywhere, from the dessert buffet to the online shoe boutique. But a new study

suggests that exercise might be a simple if unexpected way to increase our willpower and perhaps help us to avoid making impulsive choices that we will later regret.Self-control is one of those concepts that we all recognize and applaud but do not necessarily practice. It requires forgoing things that entice us, which, let’s face it, is not fun. On the other hand, lack of self-control can be consequential for health and well-being, often contributing to problems like weight gain, depression or money woes.Given these impacts, scientists and therapists have been inter-ested in finding ways to increase people’s self-restraint. Vari-ous types of behavioral therapies and counseling have shown promise. But such techniques typically require professional assistance and have for the most part been used to treat people with abnormally high levels of impulsiveness.There have been few scientifically validated options available to help those of us who might want to be just a little better at resisting our more devilish urges.So for the new study, which was published recently in Behavior Modification, a group of researchers at the University of Kansas in Lawrence began wondering about exercise.Exercise is known to have considerable psychological effects. It can raise moods, for example, and expand people’s sense of what they are capable of doing. So perhaps, the researchers speculated, exercise might alter how well people can control their impulses.To find out, the scientists decided first to mount a tiny pilot study, involving only four men and women.These volunteers, who had been sedentary and overweight, were told they would be taking part in an exercise program to get them ready to complete a 5K race, and that the study would examine some of the effects of the training, including psycho-logical impacts.The volunteers began by completing a number of question-naires, including one that quantified their “delay discounting,” a measure that psychologists use to assess someone’s ability to put off pleasures now for greater enjoyments in the future. It tests, for instance, whether a person would choose to accept $5 today or $15 a week from now.The delay-discounting questionnaire is generally accepted in research circles as a valid measure of someone’s self-control.The volunteers then undertook a two-month walking and jog-ging regimen, meeting three times a week for 45 minutes with the researchers, who coached them through the sessions, urg-ing them to maintain a pace that felt difficult but sustainable. Each week the men and women also repeated the question-naires.Finally, a month after the formal training had ended, the volun-teers returned to the university for one more round of testing. (Later, two of them also ran 5K races.)The results were intriguing, the researchers felt. Three of the four participants had developed significantly greater self-control, according to their delay-discounting answers, and maintained those gains a month after the formal training had ended. But one volunteer, who had missed multiple sessions, showed no changes in impulsivity.A four-person study is too small to be meaningful, though, so the researchers next repeated the experiment with 12 women of varying ages, weights and fitness levels.The results were almost identical to those in the pilot study. Most of the women gained a notable degree of self-control, based on their questionnaires, after completing the walking and jogging program. (In this experiment, they were told they were training for better fitness.)But the increases were proportional; the more sessions a wom-an attended or the more her average jogging pace increased, the greater the improvement in her delay-discounting score.These gains lingered a month after the training had ended, although most of the women had tapered off their exercise routines by then.The upshot of these results would seem to be that exercise could be a simple way to help people shore up their self-re-straint, says Michael Sofis, a doctoral candidate in applied be-havioral science at the University of Kansas who led the study.These two experiments cannot tell us, though, how exercise helps us to ignore a cupcake’s allure. But Mr. Sofis says that many past studies have concluded that regular exercise alters the workings of portions of the brain involved in higher-level thinking and decision-making, which, in turn, play important roles in impulse control.Exercise also may have more abstract psychological impacts on our sense of self-control, he says. It is, for many of us, a concentrated form of delayed gratification. Exerting ourselves during a workout is not always immediately pleasurable. But it can feel marvelous afterward to know that we managed to keep going, a sensation that could spill over into later decision-making.

Year 8 Vol.No: (92) September 2017

How Exercise Might Increase Your

Self-Control

favored, productivity suffers. The employee’s attention is focused on the stress-inducing act instead of the task at hand. Note: Perception is reality. When people feel they’re being treated unfairly, they’ll work to redress the perceived inequity.How do you know whether employees feel they are being treated unfairly? The obvious answer is to simply ask them. But when you do, be prepared to act on the response.Nobody enjoys feeling like their ideas have no merit. A common mistake managers make is asking employees for their thoughts, opinions and ideas, but not following through with implementation or communication (why these thoughts, opinions, and ideas were or were not acted upon). If you’re going to ask a question, be prepared to respond with words and actions. If it’s a

feasible request, work to make it happen. If it’s not actionable now but may be in the future, communicate why and work with the employee on an interim solution. If it’s not realistic at

all, explain why and ask what other ideas the employee has to continue the discussion.Tenet four: people who feel like they’re treated unfairly will seek to balance the scales

Let’s look at a scenario. Your top salesperson has been in their current position for a year. It’s their first annual review. They’ve met and well exceeded their $1 million sales goal and is excited to receive their bonus. They get the check and are feeling pretty good about the situation. Until they find out that another employee who’s been with the company for five years and met (but did not exceed) the same goal is receiving nearly double their bonus compensation.This scenario happens. Sometimes bonuses are calculated not just on certain goals but also on company tenure. But if you’re the newer employee who exceeded your sales goal, you probably are screaming in your head, “Huh?! But I sold more than this person! How is this fair?!”

The 4 Rules of Treating Employees Equitably

A vast source of renewable energy has been sitting under our noses.

Evaporating water could supply enormous volumes of clean electricity, if we can only harness it.Evaporation is the process by which liquids turn into gases, generally when they are heated up. Every day, vast amounts of water evaporate from lakes and rivers, powered by heat energy from the sun. The scale of this energy is considerable.Water that evaporates from existing lakes and dams in the US – excluding the Great Lakes – could provide up to 2.85 billion megawatt hours of electricity per year, according to Ozgur Sahin of Columbia University and colleagues. That is the equivalent of two-thirds of US electricity generation in 2015. In 15 of the 47 US states studied, the potential power exceeds demand.Covering freshwater bodies with engines that harness evaporation would halve water lost in this way, the team says. In seven US states, this would save more water than the entire state consumes. But the calculations assume that all the water is covered – which we would not want to do.

Evaporation engines could also be put in other areas, from irrigated fields and greenhouses to sheltered bays, says Sahin.But first an evaporation engine needs to be built. Sahin’s team has created several miniature prototypes.The prototypes are all based on materials

that shrink as they dry, such as tape coated with bacterial spores. The spores curl as they dry, shortening the tape. “They work like a muscle,” says Sahin. “They can push and pull with a lot of force.”To avoid being repeatedly soaked in water and becoming contaminated with dirt and chemicals, the prototypes exploit changes in humidity.In one version, the “muscle” sits just above the water. When shutters above it are closed, the humidity rises and the material expands. That opens the shutters, allowing the material to dry out and shrink, and so on.Such evaporation engines can run at night as well as day. Normally, there would be less evaporation at night, but blocking evaporation during the day stores energy in the form of warm water. “At night you take advantage of this power,” says Sahin. “This is a great advantage.”

Engine problemsOthers agree that the potential is huge. The issue is harnessing it.“The question is whether there is any practical way to capture that energy,” says

Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford, California. He doubts it is possible to efficiently convert evaporation energy into electrical energy.What’s more, developing evaporation engines to the point where they can be mass-produced is a huge task, and one that few groups are working on.The technology would also have to compete directly with solar panels, as it is increasingly common for floating solar farms to be placed on reservoirs. But evaporation engines could be made from cheap biological materials that are easier to dispose of than solar panels, says Sahin.If the technology does take off in a big way, it could affect local weather by reducing evaporation. But it will only make a difference if an area of 250,000 square kilometres is covered, the team calculates. At large scales, all forms of energy production, from wind to nuclear, can affect weather and climate.Besides, in a world of increasingly extreme rainfall, reducing evaporation could be desirable in some places.

Energy from evaporating water could rival wind and solar

Evaporation engine prototypes use materials that expand and contract like muscles

Open Invitation to write in Ad-Dorra

Are you interested in writing? Would you like to share your knowledge with your colleagues? Contact our editorial on the following number 4167 or e-mail Arahimma@kjo.com.sa

Editor-in-Chief Eng. Riyadh Al-Hassan

Editing Supervisor Falah Al-Ajmi Technical Support Supervisor Salem J. Al-Dousari

Last Page

www.kjo.com8

Boutique audio gear like the mighty

MA9000 and the gorgeous MC275 from New York’s McIntosh Labs is generally big, blocky and booming. Even its headphone amp tips the scales at over 25 pounds. But now this monstrous personal listening enhancer is about to get a smartphone-sized sibling designed for on-the-move music lovers – the MHA50 Portable Decoding Amplifier.

Though the pocket-friendly dimensions (2.7 x 6.1 x 0.6 in/7 x 15.5 x 1.4 cm) of the MHA50 mean that the trademark McIntosh blue backlit power meters are obviously not included, the so-called Portable Decoding Amplifier does sport the familiar mix of pale blue, jet black and blackletter logo. It’s mostly aluminum housing is topped with a glass front panel that includes a touch-enabled circular volume control dial.

Inside, there’s a 32-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) for

high resolution digital audio formats up to 32-bit/192 kHz (PCM) resolution, as well as native support for DSD256 and DXD384 files and asynchronous USB audio. And the input interface at the bottom rocks both Type A and micro B USB inputs for music source devices compatible with USB OTG (On-The-Go) technology.

At the output end of the MHA50 sits a gold-plated 3.5 mm jack for connection to headphone while out and about or powered speakers when on the desktop. There’s a high/low gain switch and a button to enable Bluetooth 4.1 (with aptX) wireless audio streaming.

The MHA50 features a 32-

bit digital-to-analog converter capable of supporting high resolution digital audio formats up...The amp/DAC is reported capable of driving headphones running from the 8 ohm consumer end right up to money-no-object 600 ohm audiophile cans, with a power output of 200

mW, total harmonic distortion of 0.005 percent, signal to noise ratio of 105 dB and 20 Hz to 50 kHz frequency response.

McIntosh has also included something called the HXD mode, which is said to offer a more natural listening experience for the user, though it can be disabled if preferred. Finally, the MHA50’s integrated battery is said to be good for up to 6 hours of Bluetooth-enabled continuous use before needing a top up, more when cabled.

The MHA50 Portable Decoding Amplifier is available in October for a suggested retail price of US$700.

From KJO Archive

Science and Technology

Microsoft Office 2019 to Be Released in the Second Half of 2018

McIntosh makes its high-end audio tech portable

Year 8 Vol.No: (92) September 2017

Kamil Al-Shawa Director of Computer Dept. 1999

The next version of Microsoft Office - Office 2019 - will be released in the second half of

2018 and its previews will start shipping mid-year.The release will include perpetual versions of the Office apps including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook and servers including Exchange, SharePoint and Skype for Business, Microsoft said in statement late on Tuesday.Office 2019 will add new capabilities for customers, including improved inking features like pressure sensitivity, tilt effects and ink replay.«New formulas and charts will make data analysis for Excel more powerful. Visual animation features like Morph and Zoom will add polish to PowerPoint presentations,» the company added.The release will bring server enhancements, which will include updates to IT manageability, usability, voice and security.Office 2016 - the current version - was launched two years ago.Earlier this month, Microsoft rolled out a feature on its Teams service which will allow guest access to all Office 365 commercial and education customers.The feature will allow Office 365 users to add people from outside their company to a team, so the guests can participate in chats, join meetings, collaborate on documents and more.For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on Twitter, Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Chairman Eng. Saeed Al-Shaheen