The Sultanate of Oman is a rapidly modernizing country with a significant length of its coastline slated for development. Much of the coastline is still in its natural state and basic studies describing the sedimentary systems need to be conducted in order to plan effectively for their sustainable development and to monitor changes in them with time. For such purposes, sediment samples (surface and sub-surface), elevation data, and serial sediment cores were collected at Sur Lagoon during three field seasons. The research objectives, procedures, results, and analyses for Sur lagoon are presented in three chapters. The first chapter compares textural facies, identified on the basis of particle-size distribution (PSD) of surface sediments from Sur Lagoon and evaluated using multi-variate cluster analysis, for their value in recognizing modem sedimentary environments. Clustering the full PSD size spectrum (0.0375- 1888 μm) shows that facies identification is possible is closely tied to surface elevation, particle-size decreasing with increasing elevation above mean sea level. This analytical technique should be tested under different conditions to assess further its utility. The second chapter discusses the taphonomically distinct and laterally extensive (> 1 km2) bivalve shell bed deposited by a tsunami on November 28th, 1945. Taphonomic characteristics of this unit are compared to those of the shell-rich tsunamite from Caesarea, Israel, and resulted in the identification of three generic, tsunamigenic-specific traits in shell beds: 1) thickly bedded and laterally extensive shell deposit, 2) presence of allochthonous articulated bivalves not in life position, and 3) extensive angular fragmentation. When these three traits are found together, a tsunamigenic origin should be considered for the shell bed. The third chapter analyzes the PSD of the tsunamite in eight sediment cores for digested and undigested samples. Cluster analysis of the PSD extended the upper or lower tsunamite contacts in four cores, but in general, the tsunamite thickness is consistent with the previously identified shell beds (Chapter 3). The tsunamigenic processes that resulted in the deposition of the shell bed were complex, and deposition occurred during run-up, flooding, and backwash stages of the tsunami, incorporating marine, lagoonal, and terrestrial (wadi) sediment into the tsunamite. The results of this study provide baseline sedimentological data for an understudied region of the world. New applications of cluster analysis of PSD and taphonomic analysis have the potential to identify previously unknown tsunamites in the geological record, and lithological facies using textural analysis. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis examines the British army and its legacy of counterinsurgency from the 20th century. It analyses the effects of post-colonial counterinsurgency and the army’s ability to learn from previous counterinsurgency conflicts to create new doctrine from earlier examples that could have had lessons for the UK forces in southern Iraq. Doctrine (both official and unofficial) ranges from endorsed army field manuals to theory written by experts while on defence fellowships. The army’s ability to create new doctrine from previous campaigns lessons and how it is diffused across the armed forces is also assessed. The conflicts used as post-colonial counterinsurgencies scrutinise Oman and Northern Ireland. These two case studies provide mixed lessons, that should advance and expand British counterinsurgency theory and models. The previous historical occurrences of counterinsurgency have created a British approach which has established a four-pillar framework which encompasses minimum force, civil-military co-operation, use of intelligence and tactical flexibility. This approach could identify lessons for a modern British army deployed to Iraq. If lessons and previous outcomes are analysed to create new doctrine, strategy and tactics that encompass the four pillars framework, what went wrong in southern Iraq? Could lessons from earlier campaigns have assisted British efforts?

This thesis analyzes Iran-Saudi relations in the context of growing regional hostility. This research encompasses the domestic and foreign policies enacted by both states since 1979, accompanying a discussion of the historical background of their ties. Moreover, the future prospects of their relations regarding the utilization of Oman as a neutral negotiator for regional conflicts are examined. The significant contributing factors of each state to such dynamic ties include: the leadership, national security, religion-politics connection, and their reaction to global instability indicators. Recently, Iran-Saudi hostility has been worsening due to their policies in the region in reaction to regional events. Thus, some may argue that the outlook of success for Omani role in negotiating between the two is seemingly less likely. The relations of these two Persian Gulf regional powers need to be examined further for future prospects.

Improving the quality and safety of maternity services is an international top agenda item. This thesis describes the progress towards the development of a multidimensional approach to measure the quality and safety of care in ten maternity units in Oman based on three of the five dimensional Patient Safety Measurement and Monitoring Framework (PSMMF) which include measuring "past harm" and "anticipation and preparedness”. The three monitoring approaches used in this research are: (1) measuring the patient safety culture (2) measuring patient satisfaction (3) and monitoring caesarean section rates. The specific objectives of the research are to (1) measure patient safety culture level, (2) examine the association between nurse’s nationality and patient safety culture, (3) validate an Arabic language survey to measure maternal satisfaction about the childbearing experience, (4) measure patient satisfaction about the childbearing experience, and (5) to examine caesarean section rates across maternity units using statistical process control charts. This thesis started with four systematic reviews that focused on (1) the use of patient safety culture for monitoring maternity units (2) the available interventions to improve patient safety culture (3) Arabic surveys available for measuring maternal satisfaction and (4) the use of statistical process control charts for monitoring performance indicators. The overall conclusion from these reviews that these approaches are being increasingly used in maternity, found feasible and useful, and there are areas that need attention for future work. Five field studies were conducted to address the research aim and objectives. Patient safety culture was measured by a cross-sectional survey of all staff in the ten maternity units. It was found that safety culture in Oman is below the target level and that there is wide variation in the safety scores across hospitals and across different categories of staff. Non-Omani nurses have a more positive perception of patient safety culture than Omani nurses in all domains except in respect of stress recognition and this difference need further investigation and needs to be considered by designers of interventions to enhance patient safety culture. Using two existing validated English surveys, an Arabic survey was developed, validated, and used to measure maternal satisfaction with childbirth services. It was found that the new survey has good psychometric properties and that in all the ten hospitals, mothers were satisfied with the care provided during child delivery but satisfaction score varied across hospitals and groups of participants. Caesarean section rate in the last 17 years was examined using statistical process control charts to understand the variation across the ten hospitals. It was found that caesarean section rate is above the rate recommended by the World Health Organisation. Special cause variations were detected that warrant further investigation. In conclusion, the field studies demonstrated that it is feasible to use the three approaches to monitor quality and safety in maternity units. However, further work is required to use these data to enhance the quality and safety of care. Additionally, future work is needed to cover the other three dimensions of the PSMMF. / Ministry of Health in Oman,

Oman has adopted e-government services, but according to the United Nations E-Government Development Index classification, such services are not fully utilised. E-government classification of Oman shows a lack that motivated this research. The aim is to provide a framework that can help the Omani government to better implement e-government services. As a result, Oman classification is expected to be improved. Such framework may also help similar developing countries in implementing their e-government services. This work aimed to address both; government and citizens prospective, also aiming to help conducting a sold research a good implementable framework. Therefore, an interview with 21 government participations from different institutions was conducted followed by citizens that attracted 400 qualified responses. The research process has led to the suggestion of using another approach of e-government services, the unified e-services portals. The outcomes of this research show; both government and citizens are in favour of using unified definitions in portals. In addition, a proposed framework is presented based on supported findings that is believed to better utilising e government services hence leading to improve ranking. It is also believed that the UN assessing committees would benefit from the unified approach. Simply, it unifies the definition of each service based on the published academic definitions and work. The evaluation of the proposed framework is outside this research and can be addressed by a further research as recommended. Implementing the unified approach portals is another front that attracts implementation and evaluation.

No description available.

Historical records suggest that the coastlines of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and the Sultanate of Oman have been subjected to catastrophic storm and tsunami events throughout recorded history. In 1945, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake -100 km south of Karachi, Pakistan generated a tsunami that impacted the coast of Oman and resulted in over 4000 deaths. Although the 1945 tsunami deposit has been documented, no other paleo-tsunami deposits have been identified despite the fact that historical and paleo-seismic records suggest the contrary. Similarly, the north-eastern islands of the Caribbean, particularly Anegada, BVI, have been subjected to intense hurricane strikes over the past 300 years. Due to its position relative to the Atlantic Ocean and the Puerto Rico Trench, Anegada is a potential recorder of local (e.g. 1690, 1867) and trans-oceanic tsunami events (e.g. 1755 Lisbon) as well. Potential tsunami overwash events at both locations are expected to be intermingled with marine incursions resulting from major storms and Holocene sea level change. Discerning between storm and tsunami overwash is problematic and usually favours a storm interpretation due to their frequency in the geologic record. This bias and lack of properly constrained geologic evidence has hindered the accuracy of tsunami prediction models, and subsequently, the assessment of seismic and tsunami hazards at both locations. Several studies employ the use of foraminifera to distinguish between storm and tsunami deposition; however, they are traditionally conducted in contrasting settings where differences between the terrestrial and marine realms are easily detected. Marine influenced settings lack the same degree of contrast; therefore, microfossil analysis alone is not effective. This dissertation investigates the use of foraminiferal taphonomy as an overwash indicator in two types of coastal settings: 1. a silisiclastic arid system lagoon (Sur, Sultanate of Oman), and 2. semi-tropical carbonate marine ponds (Anegada, British Virgin Islands). Although traditional microfossil taphonomic characteristics have been reported in some overwash studies, no multi-variate investigation into their usefulness as tsunami or storm indicators has previously been conducted. This dissertation shows that the surface condition (e.g. angularity, color, size, fragmentation, etc.) of foraminifera provides important information regarding the origin of overwash deposits and is useful in detecting older deposits at both locations when combined with other proxies. Several important contributions have resulted from this research: 1. Taphofacies analysis helped to constrain sediment provenance and modern nearshore hydrodynamics in an arid system lagoon that could not be achieved with traditional foraminiferal analysis alone. 2. The combined use of foraminiferal provenance and taphonomy was effective in identifying the 1945 Makran Trench tsunami at Sur Lagoon and will be a good indicator of older events at this location; a point which is particularly significant since no geologic evidence of previous tsunami events has ever been recorded. High abundances of predominantly marine taxa coupled with high abundances of large test sizes, fragments and fossil specimens were found to be indicators of tsunami deposition in contrast to lagoon deposition which was characterized by smaller test sizes and less robust lagoon taxa. 3. The preservation of the reefal dwelling Homotrema rubrum, a common encrusting foraminifer in Caribbean reef settings, provided the direction of origin of an overwash event deposited in marine ponds at Anegada and constrained the list of potential overwash candidates. Large and highly preserved Homotrema fragments that are typical of modem reef and storm wrack sediment were found in high abundances within Sand and Shell Sheet in three marine ponds at Anegada. A decrease in the abundance of highly preserved specimens from north to south throughout the ponds, coupled with mollusc taphonomic data strengthens a tsunami interpretation for the deposit. This dissertation shows that taphofacies analysis has broad application to event stratigraphy in a variety of coastal systems. Although the application of taphonomic analysis between the two contrasting environments was widely different, in both cases, taphonomic data provided indicative information regarding the origin of deposition of overwash units at Anegada, BVI and Sur, Sultanate of Oman. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Yes / The cost of medical care is snowballing at an alarming and unmaintainable rate universally. Consequently, the need for a trusted quality management (QM) system at healthcare organizations is a must. Such system will aid the healthcare governance to increase the effectiveness and decrease the cost. It will help in minimizing the risk and enhancing patient safety. Several challenges facing healthcare QM in Oman are creating computerizing monitoring tool and confirming commitment of decision makers at all levels. The Report of Quality and Patient Safety (RQPS) in Oman 2016 highlighted the low level of patient safety and quality culture among staff. It recommended to inaugurate a well-defined organizational chart based on each healthcare organization’s vision and mission. Therefore, it is important to design a national accreditation system that is accredited by an international accreditation body. Such step will help in prioritizing the needs and minimizing the cost of maintaining and upgrading systems. To overcome these challenges, this article is presenting a novel methodology of hybrid knowledge-based (KB) system to assess QM in healthcare environment (QMHE) using gauging absence of prerequisites tool for benchmarking and analytical hierarchy process for prioritizing. The KB-QMHE model can be used as a standard to assess QM at any healthcare organization around the globe. The results showed that 852 questions were answered by the quality managers in a tertiary hospital in Oman; the percentage of bad points in this hospital was 32%. The KB-QMHE model has clearly shown that the priority 1, in level 0, is to focus on the patient-centered dimension in the healthcare quality dimensions submodule. Output, also, suggested a prioritized action plan covering healthcare governance module, healthcare leadership module and healthcare organization’s resources module in level 1–3.

This study was conducted at the mountainous catchment part of Batinah Region of the Sultanate of Oman called Al-Awabi watershed which is about 260km2 in area with about 40 Km long Wadi main channel. The study paper presents a proposed modeling approach and possible scenario analysis which uses 1D - hydraulic modeling for flood routing analysis; and the main tasks of this study work are (1) Model setup for Al-Awabi watershed area, (2) Sensitivity Analysis, and (3) Scenario Analysis on impacts of rainfall characteristics and transmission losses. The model was set for the lower 24 Km long of Al-Awabi main channel (Figure 13). Channel cross-sections were the main input to the 1D-Hydraulic Model used for the analysis of flash flood routing of the Al-Awabi watershed. As field measurements of the Wadi channel cross-sections are labor intensive and expensive activities, availability of measured channel cross-sections is barely found in this study area region of Batinah, Oman; thereby making it difficult to simulate the flood water level and discharge using MIKE 11 HD. Hence, a methodology for extracting the channel cross-sections from ASTER DEM (27mX27m) and Google Earth map were used in this study area. The performance of the model setup was assessed so as to simulate the flash flood routing analysis at different cross-sections of the modeled reach. And from this study, although there were major gap and problems in data as well as in the prevailing topography, slope and other Hydro Dynamic parameters, it was concluded that the 1D-Hydraulic Modelling utilized for flood routing analysis work can be applied for the Al-Awabi watershed. And from the simulated model results, it was observed that the model was sensitive to the type of Boundary Condition chosen and taken, channel cross sections and its roughness coefficient utilized throughout the model reach.

Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) is a widely researched construct of corporate entrepreneurship. Despite long-standing research on EO, past studies on this construct have been unable to resolve issues related to its measurement. Innovation Intensity (II) is also a dynamic construct of corporate entrepreneurship but has received relatively less empirical attention. Previous research has reported an absence of an empirically validated quantitative scale of innovation, particularly innovation intensity. This research has addressed these gaps by proposing a refinement and validation of the Entrepreneurial Orientation scale and the development of an Innovation Intensity scale. The research proposes an Entrepreneurial Transformational Model (ETM) positing that EO impacts II. A predominantly quantitative research strategy supported by qualitative inputs, is employed to obtain empirical data from 404 corporate firms in Oman, drawing from a list of corporate firms registered with the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry. A mix of questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews was conducted with senior managers from firms representing various industries of the Omani corporate sector. Utilising exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM), a two-stage data analysis approach was adopted. Measurement and structural models were developed for EO and II measures, while a complete SEM model was developed to test the causal relationship between EO and II. The results indicate that EO is a second-order construct consisting of five first-order factors, namely ready to innovate, competitive aggressiveness, autonomy, risk taking and proactiveness, which are its reflective components. Similarly, II is a second-order construct consisting of two first-order factors, namely degree and frequency of incremental and radical innovation, which are its reflective components. The II scale developed through this study allows corporate firms to assess their innovation intensity on a two-dimensional four-celled grid with varying levels of degree and frequency of innovation. Finally, EO is found to influence II and the entire relationship is posited as Entrepreneurial Transformation Model. This study, by addressing the empirical irregularities, has brought clarity to the measurement of EO and II constructs and is an original contribution to the advancement of theoretical knowledge and improvement in professional practice.