M.A. / none / Prof. J.F. Janse van Rensburg Prof. Ahmet Davutoğlu

In the 21st century, family businesses around the world face significant challenges and plentiful opportunities. The growth and survival of family firms depends on their ability to address these challenges, capitalise on their strengths, and take advantage of the opportunities facing them. The family business literature is rich in the experiences of Americans, Koreans, Swedes and many other nationalities, cultures and religions around the world, but there is a paucity of documented evidence that relates to the Arab world. This study adds a new and important specific contribution to the literature by addressing the field of family businesses in the Arab world, and Abu Dhabi in particular. The thesis concentrates on large family firms which have their headquarters in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The main reason for this choice is pragmatic; the researcher has far greater access to the principals (CEO’s and Chairmen in particular) of Abu Dhabi based family firms than those headquartered elsewhere. This thesis identifies major themes which will influence the future development of family firms in Abu Dhabi in the medium term (taken to mean up to 2030, the period covered by the Abu Dhabi Vision). The research design chosen is an exploratory one. It does not seek to make predictions concerning the future of family firms in Abu Dhabi but attempts to explain the phenomenon of family firms in Abu Dhabi to the extent that explanation helps shed light on possible alternative strategies which such firms might need to adopt if they are to continue to prosper. The research relies heavily on expert interviews. Such a strategy is warranted by the dearth of published data of any sort. This research also makes a useful contribution to our understanding of family firms in general. By concentrating on a hitherto under-researched context, the study adds to our overall understanding by broadening the range of comparative studies of family firms which are available to other researchers.

Thesis (MCur (Interdisciplinary Health Sciences. Nursing Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Patient safety remains one of the biggest challenges to healthcare organizations. With the escalation in health care costs due to medical errors, many organizations are adopting a number of strategies like the keeping of electronic medical records, the use of medication bar coding, instituting protocol for common procedures and checklists. Although each of these interventions has had a positive impact, problems of preventable medical errors still persist in many health care organizations throughout the world. In order to combat this, a small but increasing number of organizations are trying out basic technology as a low cost solution for patient safety in order to adopt this culture. Approval was given to the researcher to conduct an assessment of the safety culture in a specialized obstetric and gynecology operating room setting in Abu Dhabi. The aim of the study was to explore the patient safety culture and the contributing factors influencing patient safety in the operating room, as part of the preparations for accreditation by the Joint Commission International. A quantitative descriptive survey as research design was implemented for this purpose. In May 2010 the researcher surveyed the entire population of operating room staff, i.e. 250 participants, following a pilot study consisting of 10% of the total sample. The popular hospital wide survey questionnaire of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was adjusted and used to assess the safety culture among the operating room staff. The survey measured four common dimensions of patient safety, namely an overall perception and grade of patient safety, and the frequency and number of events reported. Further sub-dimensions were also measured in terms of leadership support, team work, and communication. A total of 118 completed questionnaires were received, which represents a 52% response rate. All of the participants had direct interaction or contact with patients. The composite overall score for the perception of safety was 48%. Although findings of the survey indicate that the operating room has patient safety problems, the findings also show much positive strength in the operating room and the organization as a whole. The positive composite scores are reflected in the findings of 74% for hospital management support for patient safety, 70% for teamwork within the units, and 61% for teamwork across hospital units, and 60% for feedback and communication regarding medical errors. The implications of the survey findings were taken into consideration in order for the organization to comply with the requirements for the Joint Commission International’s recertification with the focus on staff education and improving safety standards. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING:Pasiëntbeveiliging bly een van de grootste uitdagings vir gesondheidsorganisasies. Met die toename in onkoste vir gesondheidsorg vanweë mediese misstappe, pas baie organisasies ’n aantal strategieë toe, soos die byhou van elektroniese mediese rekords, die aanbring van strepieskodes op medisyne, die daarstelling van protokolle vir algemene prosedures en kontrolelyste. Alhoewel elkeen van hierdie intervensies ’n positiewe impak gehad het, bestaan probleme vanweë mediese misstappe nog steeds in vele gesondheidsorg organisasies dwarsoor die wêreld. Om dit te voorkom, probeer ’n klein, maar toenemende aantal organisasies om ‚n kultuur van basiese tegnologie as ’n lae-koste oplossing vir pasiëntbeveiliging te kweek. Toestemming is aan die navorser gegee om ’n assessering te doen van die veiligheidskultuur in ’n gespesialiseerde verloskundige en ginekologiese operasiesaal in Abu Dhabi. Die doel van hierdie studie is om die pasiëntveiligheidskultuur te ondersoek, asook die bydraende faktore wat pasiëntbeveiliging in die operasiesaal beïnvloed as deel van die voorbereiding vir akkreditasie deur die Gesamentlike Kommissie Internasionaal (GKI). ’n Kwantitatiewe, beskrywende opname as navorsingsontwerp is toegepas vir hierdie doel. Gedurende Mei 2010 het die navorser ’n opname van die totale populasie van die operasiesaalpersoneel gedoen, naamlik 250 deelnemers, na ’n loodsondersoek wat 10% van die totale steekproef uitgemaak het. Die bekende Agentskap vir Gesondheidsnavorsing en Kwaliteit (AGNK) se hospitaalwye opnamevraelys is aangepas en gebruik om die veiligheidskultuur in die operasiesaal te assesseer. Die opname het vier algemene dimensies van pasiëntveiligheid gemeet, naamlik ’n algemene persepsie en gradering van pasiëntveiligheid, as ook die frekwensie en die aantal ongunstige gebeure wat plaasvind. ’n Totaal van 118 voltooide vraelyste is ontvang wat ’n 52% responskoers verteenwoordig. Al die deelnemers het direkte interaksie of kontak met pasiënte. Die samegestelde algehele telling van persepsie van veiligheid is 48%. Alhoewel bevindinge van die opname aandui dat die operasiesaal pasiëntveiligheidsprobleme het, wys bevindinge ook baie positiewe aspekte in die operasiesaal en die organisasie as ’n geheel uit. Die positiewe samegestelde telling word gereflekteer in die bevindinge van 74% vir ondersteuning vanaf die hospitaalbestuur vir pasiëntbeveiliging, 70% vir spanwerk binne die eenhede, 61% vir spanwerk dwarsoor die hospitaaleenhede en 60% vir terugvoering en kommunikasie ten opsigte van mediese misstappe. Die implikasies van die opname se bevindinge is in ag geneem ten einde die organisasie in staat te stel om te voldoen aan die Gesamentlike Kommissie Internasionaal se hersertifisering met die fokus op personeelopleiding en verbetering van veiligheidstandaarde.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T13:27:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1527242 bytes, checksum: ad700da8b5fd903662f0c678f99cc480 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-07-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The objective of this dissertation is to delineate the trajectory of a sociology of evil through a critique of the concept as it appears in philosophical works, the social psychology of Stanley Milgram and Phillip Zimbardo, and the sociological approaches of Zygmunt Bauman and Jeffrey Alexander. Thus, evil will be considered as a socially constructed object, which contains a generative capacity of symbolically classifying social reality and human actions through formative relations of subjects and communities. This rereading of evil as a sociological object is fundamentally based on the dispositional action theory of Pierre Bourdieu, especially in regards to its concepts of habitus and social libido. As such, evil as an empirical problem will be considered through an analysis of the photographs taken by American soldiers in 2003 at the Abu Ghraib military prison in Iraq. / O presente trabalho busca mapear o caminho de construção de uma sociologia do mal através de uma crítica às construções prévias desse objeto na filosofia, na psicologia social de Stanley Milgram e Phillip Zimbardo e nas abordagens sociológicas de Zygmunt Bauman e Jeffrey Alexander. Dessa forma, serão discutidas as questões relacionadas ao mal como objeto socialmente construído e que contém a capacidade generativa de classificar simbolicamente a realidade social e as ações humanas a partir das relações de formação dos sujeitos e das coletividades. Essa releitura do mal como objeto sociológico será substancialmente informada pela teoria disposicional da ação de Pierre Bourdieu, através dos seus conceitos de habitus e libido social. Para tanto, o trabalho de construção do mal como problema empírico será feito através da análise das fotografias produzidas por soldados americanos na prisão militar de Abu Ghraib no Iraque no ano de 2003.

Abu Dhabi has experienced an unprecedented development during the last half century, growing rapidly from a remote desert settlement to a thriving metropolitan. Today, the Emirate ranks among the countries with the highest GDP per capita in the world, and this impressive development is anticipated to continue in the decades to come.<p><p>However, there are several challenges to the sustainability of the current economic prosperity, and the environmental degradation that was caused by the rapid development is an important factor in this context. Today, the United Arab Emirates as a country has the highest ecological footprint per capita in the world and Abu Dhabi, hosting the major part of the heavy industries and oil extraction capacity in the country, has an even larger footprint. Key drivers of this poor environmental track-record are the high greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption levels.<p><p>This deterioration of environmental conditions has growing implications for the economic welfare and physical well-being of the population. So far, the government's environmental policy is mostly symbolic, and concrete policy measures are largely lacking today. On the contrary, there are crucial elements in the governmental policy that have strong negative impacts on environmental conditions and thus on the sustainability of Abu Dhabi's growth, such as generous implicit subsidies on energy commodities and water and an ambitious strategy for economic growth, depending on a strong expansion of heavy industry.<p><p>This poses the question how environmental conditions will develop, when the population boom and economic expansion are anticipated to continue. However, the academic literature on environmental sustainability issues in Abu Dhabi as well as in the wider Gulf region is limited. Moreover, applied policy studies on the topic are absent as well.<p><p>This dissertation intends to contribute to the academic literature as well as to insights from existing policy studies, by projecting the impact of sustained economic growth on environmental conditions in Abu Dhabi. It compares a baseline scenario of economic growth with the four most relevant policy options aimed at footprint reductions available to policy makers in the Emirate: i) The introduction of a nuclear power plant; ii) An abandonment of utility price controls; iii) Shifts in the subsidization policy of water and energy markets; iv) Energy efficiency improvements in selected parts of the economy.<p><p>A recursively dynamic, multi-sectoral computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is used to generate the results in this dissertation, focusing on the two most important aspects of the ecological footprint in Abu Dhabi mentioned above. The CGE model is calibrated to a SAM for Abu Dhabi for 2009, and its specification is chosen to facilitate a focus on energy consumption and sustainability issues. Besides, it is extended by an environmental module and a fossil fuel module, and it incorporates several other modifications that are tailored to the Abu Dhabi economy.<p><p>Simulation results under a baseline scenario of economic growth show that carbon emissions will grow by 282% by 2030 compared to the base year 2009, and water consumption is anticipated to increase by 312%.<p><p>The introduction of nuclear plants, at the scale that is previewed today, will yield a reduction in emissions of 2.6% compared to the baseline scenario. The economic impact will be positive, with a 0.5% increase in GDP and small gains in employment levels.<p><p>Price liberalizations in the utility markets are a politically sensitive theme. When implemented, they can yield a 7.6% reduction in emissions and a 2.3% in water consumption by 2030 (vs. baseline). However, the economic cost involved amounts to 0.3% of GDP.<p><p>An abandonment of subsidies in the energy and water markets can lead to a 11.1% drop in carbon emissions, and a 28.8% decline in water consumption vs. baseline. The domestic economic impacts of this change are negative, but the GDP shows a modest 0.6% growth, due to improvements in the foreign trade balance.<p><p>Finally, efficiency improvements can lead to reductions in carbon emissions (13.8%) and water consumption (17.5%) compared to the baseline, and bring economic gains of 1.0% of GDP.<p><p>All four simulated policy scenarios in this dissertation bring about reductions in the ecological footprint, compared to the baseline as described above. Nonetheless, the consumption levels of energy and water as well as the related carbon emissions will be substantially higher in 2030 than they are today, under each of these scenarios. As a policy implication, the dissertation therefore finds that the previewed deterioration in environmental conditions requires active policy, if current welfare and prosperity are to be sustained. When assessed in the appropriate policy context, environmental conservation and improvements in the ecological footprint should be treated with a higher priority in the broad portfolio of development goals in Abu Dhabi.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

A knowledgeable person can deal with problems in a confident and flexible manner. This statement is certainly applicable in the area of health where an adequate knowledge helps clients to avoid complications. This study was conducted to explore the perceptions of ischemic heart disease patients and their families regarding the content and format of health education they need, before discharge from the hospital. A non-experimental survey study was conducted in the coronary care unit (ccu) of three governmental hospitals in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). A convenient sample of one hundred and twelve (112) participants consisting of eighty (80) patients and thirty two (32) relatives, were selected over a three month period. A self-report approach was used to collect data and a questionnaire in the form of five point Likert scale, was developed with appropriate content matching the study purpose. Reliability was tested by test- retest for nine (9) patients not participating in the sample. A panel of experts tested its validity. The confidentiality of the participants was carefully considered. The study has revealed that patients and their families indicate a strong need for health education. Most of the sample prefers health education during the hospital stay by the doctor, although nurses and different health service members were also seen as being important. The respondents perceived the health education function as increasing their confidence in dealing with the disease, while reducing their readmission and anxiety. They preferred a member of the family to attend the session. They wanted comprehensive health education addressing a wide range of topics. Since the study result agreed with other previous research results, it confirmed that people's perceptions about the need for information is similar in the UAE and everywhere else in the world. / Thesis (M.Cur.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

Crime and other kinds of anti-social behaviour are viewed as serious social problems. These issues exist in all countries, but they are especially prevalent within the UAE, a country that recently has undergone rapid social changes within a short period of time. There is a vital need to identify appropriate preventive programmes suitable to the surrounding culture, as well as factors that could lead to effective solutions. Because there is a deficiency of research on crime prevention within Arab countries, this study focuses explicitly on the prevention of juvenile delinquency in the UAE. It considers processes of implementing effective crime prevention strategies, approaches, and programmes. This study uses qualitative methods, in the form of document analyses and semi-structured interviews. The first element of data-gathering is an exploration of the context of juvenile delinquency and juvenile crime prevention in Abu Dhabi, something which has not comprehensively been done before. The second part concentrates on participants from the Abu Dhabi Police force and other organisations involved in preventive work in the area of juvenile delinquency, in order to obtain extensive and detailed information about the dynamics of juvenile crime and potential strategies of prevention. The findings of this research offer several recommendations that could help to implement successful prevention strategies in the Middle East in general and in the UAE in particular. This study identifies and explains critical risk factors, and explores the cultural considerations that must be taken into account when designing and implementing prevention programmes. It identifies several requirements that should be considered for the formation of partnerships in the prevention of juvenile crime. It includes some important recommendations for the Abu Dhabi Police force for its future development and improvement. It also contains some general recommendations for the Government of the United Arab Emirates. Further research directions are also suggested, in light of this study’s findings and its potential limitations.

Thesis advisor: Marc Landy / This thesis serves to clarify and concretize the controversy surrounding the debate on torture as it pertains to the War on Terror during the Bush Administration years. It argues that policy and rhetoric decisions made at the top of the political food chain contributed to the instances of abuse and torture that occurred in the various arenas of the war (i.e. Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, and CIA “black sites”). Such an argument is made through an analysis of what defines interrogation and torture, what techniques were in fact authorized, what factors went into determining which techniques to use, and what influence these techniques had on abuses that occurred. This thesis concludes with policy updates based on lessons learned and briefly addresses the efforts made by the Obama Administration in regards to torture, interrogation, and terrorism. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science Honors Program. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Political Science Honors.

<p>In response to the rapidly growing global environmental problems many call for changes in how individuals should deal with the environment. An important aspect of moving towards an environmentally sustainable world is to promote pro-environmental consumer behavior. Against this background, the purpose of this study is to conduct a literature review to identify social and psychological factors that influence environmental behavior and use these as a basis for an empirical study in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for analyzing current behavioral patterns between population groups. The findings suggest that willingness to sacrifice for the environment, perceived behavioral control of environmental problems and the feeling of responsibility of environmental problems are significantly positively related to environmental behavior in Abu Dhabi. It was evaluated that younger age groups, very low and very high income groups, people from developing nations and low education groups are performing worse in environmental behavior than older age groups, middle income groups, people from developed nations and high education groups. Furthermore, it was concluded that the general level of environmental behavior is low. This is ascribed to a lack of facilities supporting environmental behavior in Abu Dhabi, and a lack of environmental values in the country. Policies aimed at promoting environmental behavior should aim at changing the attitudes and values regarding the environment of the society. Such policies should be tailored for specific population segments.</p>

This thesis examines the use of religious metaphor as it applies to food in two literary works by Diana Abu-Jaber. First, The Language of Baklava, a culinary memoir published in 2005, reveals aspects of cultural identity and memory through food and metaphor. Second, Abu-Jabers most recent novel, Birds of Paradise, explores complex family relationships enacted through metaphor. The analyses of textual representations of food rely on a theoretical framework that includes a cultural anthropological perspective, as well as a rhetorical perspective, and uses textual analysis to examine metaphor and food narratives in literature. / Graduation date: 2012