<p>According to the Dutch Disease core model a boom in natural resources will eventually lead to a shift of production between sectors: from tradable goods to non-tradable goods. The authors found it interesting to research if United Arab Emirates has been a subject to any of the effects caused by the disease, due to the oil boom during the 1970s and the huge development that has appeared in the country. If the United Arab Emirates would be a vic-tim of the disease the decline in exports of the natural resource will result in a decline in the non-oil tradable goods which will affect the country negatively. Furthermore, the disease can also make it more difficult for the country to deal with the problem of high inflation. A time series covering the period 1975-2005 is used to analyse if the United Arab Emirates has experienced symptoms of the disease. Results show that the country has experienced some symptoms of the Dutch Disease during the period 1975-198 since changes in the price of oil caused tradables to shift to the non-tradable sector. Another sign of the disease is the high inflation rate Unite Arab Emirates experienced during the selected period, how-ever high inflation rate could be caused by other factors as well. Furthermore, the larger in-crease in the non-tradable sector compared to the tradable sector is also an indication of the disease in the country. According to these findings the authors can conclude that United Arab Emirates has experienced symptoms of the disease, however, it cannot be concluded that it has been a victim of the disease.</p>

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Objectives: The objective of the quantitative research was to estimate the prevalence of Early Childhood Caries (ECC) and severe Early Childhood Caries (s-ECC) and the severity of Early Childhood Caries (ECC) in the primary dentition of young children in Ajman, UAE, and investigate their association with child and family characteristics, dietary habits, fluoride use, oral hygiene practices and dental services utilization. The purpose of the qualitative research was to obtain information that could explain some of the findings of the quantitative stage in order to progress towards determining a strategy to control ECC in this population. Methods: A two-stage cluster sample was used to randomly select children aged 5 or 6 years old who were enrolled in public or private schools in Ajman, UAE. Clinical examinations for caries were conducted by a single examiner using WHO criteria. Parents completed questionnaires seeking information on child and family characteristics, dietary habits, oral hygiene, fluoride use and dental service utilization. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify risk markers and risk indicators for caries experience. To complement the quantitative findings, the second (qualitative) stage of the research was conducted with six chosen groups of mothers from different educational backgrounds and different nationalities. Each group contained between six and ten mothers - some of whose children had been examined in the quantitative section of the project. The mothers were invited to comment on the significance for them of those risk indicators identified in the earlier section of the research. The manual thematic coding method of analysis was used. Problems concerning the dental health of children were identified based on the results of both stages. Results: The total number of children sampled was 1297. Dental examination and questionnaire data were obtained for 1036 (79.9%), of whom 50.0% were female. The prevalence of ECC in 5- and 6-year-old children was 72.9% (95% CI, 61.8, 83.9) and 80.0% (95% CI, 76.0, 84.4) respectively, with mean dmft scores of 4.0 (sd, 4.1) and 4.9 (sd, 4.3) respectively (P<0.05). The overall prevalence of s-ECC was 31.1% (95% CI, 23.6, 38.9). Multivariate analysis indicated that frequency of snacking between meals per day, snack consumption level and the frequency of brushing had a significant effect on the severity of ECC, while only the snack consumption level and the frequency of brushing had a significant effect on plaque score. There was a strong association between plaque score and the severity of ECC. The total number of mothers who contributed to the qualitative study was 42. The findings of the qualitative stage showed that some mothers had a negative perception toward the primary dentition and unhelpful attitudes towards their children�s diets (through promoting a high consumption of cariogenic food), while the use of fluoride (other than in toothpaste) was rare. However, many mothers were in favor of bottled water fluoridation once they understood the benefits of such a scheme and supported the idea of a dental preventive program beng provided through their children�s schools. Conclusions: The prevalence and severity of ECC in young children in Ajman is high, with child and family characteristics, dietary habits, oral hygiene practices and dental utilization being important determinants. Young children in Ajman would benefit from health promotion strategies directed towards appropriate dietary practices and oral hygiene measures framed within culturally specific guidelines.

This study aimed to answer the research question: “What role do stakeholders believe character education might play in strengthening UAE university students’ local knowledge?” Implementing character education was explored in terms of its potential influence on national identity and local knowledge in UAE education. The literature review covers several studies that inform a relevant research design. The literature review determines the best-fit term to use in this study by comparing and contrasting suitability of related pedagogical fields to character education, such as citizenship, civic, moral, and ethics education. Additionally, studies that serve as useful examples, such as the Crick Report, Lee’s Taiwan study, and regionally relevant articles such as Al Kharusi and Atweh, are discussed to inform the reader of the study’s design for the Dubai context. A mixed methods methodological design was used with a two-phased approach, a quantitative questionnaire survey and a qualitative series of interviews using an interview schedule. With a relativist, constructivist interpretive viewpoint, three groups were assessed with more than 300 participants: students and administrators at a Dubai case study university were assessed, as well as a group of external education leaders. Findings generally supported the idea of strengthening local knowledge learning both in and outside of educational institutions, with a focus on culture and language familiarity. Also, stakeholders strongly felt the need for choice in how and where learning takes place. Findings that inform the current status quo include that there is already a sentiment of citizenship within the UAE by expatriate residents. Many residents allude to the ‘third culture’ phenomenon, and thus feel belonging to several societies. Thus, results show that character education has potential to influence local knowledge and national identity within the UAE, and be directed at all students, both national and non-national.

There has been increasing interest in research on creating word lists in the past decade with more than 60 separate lists being published along with Nation’s (2016) timely Making and Using Word Lists for Language Learning and Testing. However, this focus on word lists has primarily been on creating them and has not necessarily extended to looking at how they are actually used. In order to help answer the question of how these lists are utilized in practice, this exploratory, interpretive study based on interviews with teachers and assessment/curriculum developers looks at how word lists are used at five tertiary English foundation programs in the United Arab Emirates. The main findings include the following. Insufficient vocabulary knowledge was deemed one of the most significant problems that students faced. Additionally, word lists played a role in all five of the institutions represented in the study, and the Common European Framework (CEFR) was used in conjunction with vocabulary frequency lists to help set expected vocabulary learning in some programs. Furthermore, teacher intuition was used to modify lists in three of the five programs and online applications were used in all five programs. The thesis explores a number of areas in depth including: how vocabulary lists are being used in the programs, the use of the AWL in this context and potential problems related to this, the role of teacher intuition in the customization of lists, the role of CEFR related frameworks in these programs, the use of computer applications to assist with list vocabulary acquisition, what the selected vocabulary acquisition activities tell us about beliefs about vocabulary teaching and learning, and some final comments about utilizing a list. One of the key findings was the development of a novel framework for categorizing the use of word lists into four general areas: course planning, teaching and learning, assessment and materials development with sub-categories for each. This framework and the related examples could be utilized to evaluate the suitability of specific lists and to help set developmental targets for the process of adopting a new list and transforming it into something that could be used to direct and support vocabulary teaching and learning. It could also be developed further as more examples of practice emerge in different contexts and hopefully set the stage for more development about how vocabulary lists are used.

The thesis is a study of migration and its links to belonging, class, national identity and recognition in United Arab Emirates (UAE) federation. It focuses on Pakistani migrants, especially Pakistani professionals in Dubai, which is the second largest Emirate of the UAE because of its territorial extension and economic production (Davidson, 2008a). It is not only an empirical study but also partly a conceptual and analytical treatise on migration in the GCC countries. By comparing the extant literature on migration in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the findings of my own field research, I argue the need to move beyond concepts such as belonging despite exclusion (Vora, 2013), citizenship as belonging (Vora & Kock, 2015) and nationalism for nationals (Kock, 2015), which have dominated the literature on migration in this region, to better grasp that belonging, class and national identity are contested and situational. Dubai as a transit lounge is an expression used by one of my Pakistani participants to describe the dynamic nature of the city. But more than that, it was used to emphasize that foreign workers life in the emirate is characterized by temporariness. The UAE authorities have categorized people through the citizenship law (no. 17, 1972) in Emiratis and non-Emiratis by conceiving of them as two distinct categories. In my view, this might be interpreted as a fracture between two groups of individuals. In particular, non-Emiratis have been considered and represented in the literature as a monolithic group (Mahdavi, 2011), as disempowered individuals and, especially low-wage migrants, as victims of the market economy over which they cannot wield any control (Kathiravelu, 2016). The extant literature on migration in the GCC countries has portrayed the image of foreign communities in which the role of human agency in the migration experience is underestimated. Starting from the historical evolution of migration in the Arab Gulf region and the links with African and Asian countries, which have contributed towards shaping the ethnic diversity of the UAE and the GCC countries, my research focuses on the presence of Pakistani migrant professionals in Dubai in order to understand the development of migration in the Emirate; the role and importance of the Pakistan Association Dubai (PAD) in contributing towards determining belonging; and therefore how migration affects the Emirati national identity. This thesis challenges the extant literature on migration in the Arab Gulf region by questioning the dichotomy between nationals and non-nationals as two reciprocally-exclusive categories. Instead, it argues the need to look at inter and intra dynamics that take place in the field between the two groups in order to understand how their relations are constructed. It is thus important to consider social interactions between nationals and non-nationals because individuals occupy contradictory and multi-layered locations, spaces and social categories (Yuval-Davis, 2011; Anthias, 2015). This reasoning stems from my historical analysis of ethnic composition and social stratification in the Gulf port cities, especially Dubai, where the coexistence of different ethnic groups resulted from economic exchanges and intermarriages with people coming from African and Asian countries, which in turn contributed towards shaping the ethnic diversity of the region. For example, the construction of belonging cannot be grasped only by looking at non-nationals as an isolated category (Koch, 2015) but it has to be analysed and discussed in relation to others . As such, it is important to consider the role played by migrants and their ethno-national migrant associations in forging the discourse on the Emirati national identity. Migrants, through civic engagement and their participation in the Emirati public sphere, contribute towards strengthening Emirati national identity via their sense of belonging to the country and their agential capacity (e. g. migrant organizations).

This study researches a rapidly growing area of interest in the financial services industry, that is,operational hsk management, with special focus on the mitigation phase. Operational risk management has accelerated in importance in the financial services over the last two decades for many reasons, not least of which is the well-known catastrophic failure of large banks such as BCCI, Barings and Indymac, as well as the recent Global Financial Crisis. One of the main drivers behind such bank failures was the failure of the banks' managements to manage effectively and efficiently their operational risk exposure. The focus of this study is operational risk mitigation in the United Arab Emirates Commercial banking industry. A controversial issue with operational risk was deciding on an agreed and accepted definition within the financial services industry. It has been defined by Basel Committee on Banking Supervision as "the risk of loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems or from external events. This definition includes legal risk, but excludes strategic and reputational risk." This definition captures a wide spectrum of risk categories such as fraud risks, people risks, legal risks and compliance risks, to name a few. Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a Committee of banking supervisory authorities established by the central bank Governors of the Group often countries in 1974, published in June 2006 a document called the "International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards - A Revised Framework Comprehensive Version" known as Basel II Accord, which requires banks, among many other things, to sustain capital adequacy to cover their operational risk exposures. This Accord was the result of a number of consultative documents issued by the same Committee which focused increasing attention on the need for operational risk adequate and efficient management. Bank managements are facing increasing pressure to ensure that operational risk exposures are being managed effectively and efficiently. This extended the main momentum for the study, being the first independently sponsored study of how the UAE commercial banks have developed their operational risk management frameworks as a basis for mitigating the range of operational risk exposures they encounter. The operational risks that prompted the current Financial Crisis and how they were mitigated in the context of the UAE commercial banks gave further momentum to the research. The study addresses the various key players in operational risk management and is, therefore, interdisciplinary. The foundations from which the field work was undertaken were based on theoretical propositions in the area of decision making since the process of mitigating an operational risk is rooted in making a decision. Multiple case studies were used in the design for the research to answer the research question and establish the practices in operational risk mitigation in the UAE commercial banking industry. Leading UAE commercial banks were carefully chosen as representatives of this industry. The findings of the research are in line with the conclusions of Basel Commiltee on Banking Supervision that the main responsibility for operational risk management, and therefore mitigation, is vested in operational managers. The analysis demonstrates that (hey do not do this independently, but are supported by other experienced people in this field. A model and check-lists of operational risk management, and therefore mitigation, is proposed demonstrating the complexity of the whole process due to the nature and the scale of operational risks. The thesis concludes by discussing some further potential research suggestions in this ever-growing area of interest.

The Objectives of this research is to raise the awareness of the leaders and executives, from both the Business/Management and IT, to the role of ICT in organizational e-transformation, specifically in UAE, to enable them better facilitate their roles and responsibilities. Global Information and Communication Technology (ICT) changes and their Business/Management consequences have their regional reflections, shades, and effects. During the last few years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) federal government in general, and Dubai government in particular, initiated and deployed progressive and ambitious steps towards the implementation of E-government. The main objectives being to better serve all government stakeholders, by enabling reductions in cost, time and effort. Each department/directorate formed its own leading teams, to achieve the Etransformation projects. These teams, supported by International consulting firms, and starting with targeted attainable objectives developed solutions that achieved fast and encouraging results. These results encouraged additional steps to be taken. The process continued, and many departments/directorates - having their Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) related solutions in place - believed that their goals had been achieved or almost achieved. Upon execution of the next phase, which required connecting departments/directorates together (Government to Government: G2G stage), many serious technical problems were raised. Problems arose with respect to information exchange, database structures, file formats, uniformity and integrity of applications, hardware scalability and interoperability, and integration, accompanied with related management and financial problems. This produced IT islands of information that had to be managed and shared more efficiently. This highlighted the following issues: 1) The absence of an enterprise detailed and integrated plan to: A) Harmonically harnessing the best of Business and IT strategies, infrastructures, and processes (business-IT alignment) B) Perfect Integration, Coordination and Cooperation inside and outside the organization, supported and facilitated by new Governance structure (business-IT alignment) C) The need for Integrated Enterprise Architecture Framework (IEAF): characterized by Wholeness, Intel-connectedness, in addition to Multidimensional solution, maintaining Alignment, Standards, Scalability, Interoperability, and Integration characteristics 2) The absence of "conscious transformation" leadership, to transform leader and employee mindset and behavior, to develop supportive to change culture. This influenced the determination and support for self and organizational transformation. This required revealing the implementation of E-transformation drivers in the UAE organizational E-transformation, and classifying them into two categories: Major ICT based drivers Technology Business-IT alignment, Enterprise Architecture Project management Minor ICT based drivers Leadership Vision and Strategy Stakeholders Continuity This research focuses on the Major ICT based drivers, mainly, the business-IT alignment, and the need for an Integrated Enterprise Architecture Framework. In order to prove the above, the researcher integrated the utilization of the "case study analysis" methodology, augmented by an "interview/questionnaire" The research revealed that most of the UAE government organizations are in the second stage - with some traits of the third stage - on the level of five stages (levels of maturity) with respect to the Business/IT alignment. Meanwhile, the IEAF is either not formulated yet, or in its initial stages. Additionally, the research revealed the following: Critical Success Factors, Identification of deficiencies, Areas for improvement, identified problem areas, and proposes a "Framework milestones for sustained E-Transformation".

Construction claims are considered by many project participants as one of the most disruptive and unpleasant events of a project (Ho &amp; Liu, 2004). Researchers like Kumaraswamy (1996) argue that claims managers should focus not merely on the significant claims categories but also on the avoidable ones, to minimize the damaging effects on a given project. It becomes apparent that the causes underlying different claims categories have to be identified so that controllability and avoidability may be established. This research examines the issues by looking at the construction industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the second largest single industry after oil and gas sector, where claims and disputes are a major problem in the country. 51 leading construction participants including clients, consultants and contractors alike in the UAE were sampled for the study. The analytical results of the survey were further examined, compared and validated via the analysis of the data collected from 45 construction projects. The main findings of the first phase of study lead to the establishment of an index system called Claim Focus Index (CFI) that further establishes the finding of the 16 most significant types of claims and disputes in the UAE. The study continues to examine the underlying causes of the most significant types of claims and disputes and has identified unique sets of the root causes specific to each significant type of claims and disputes. These shall establish the basis to formulate strategies to focus on avoidability and minimization of claims and disputes.

Desde a formação do Sistema Árabe de Estados, na esteira do processo de descolonização, a retórica do nacionalismo árabe tem sido o pano de fundo sobre o qual as relações políticas intra-árabes se desenvolveram. Contudo, as relações que se estabelecem entre os Estados árabes estão muito aquém da unidade, tendo se caracterizado mais pela desintegração. A literatura sobre a integração política no Mundo Árabe aponta diversos fatores envolvidos no aparente contra-senso representado pelo discurso unificador nacionalista árabe e a ausência de integração na região, dentre eles a ingerência externa, a dependência econômica externa, os problemas relacionados ao equilíbrio de poder intra-árabe, as tensões entre soberania estatal e o discurso pan-arabista e a ausência de complementaridade econômica regional. Esses fatores foram analisados nesse trabalho, em diferentes períodos selecionados para estudo, a saber: 1954-1973; 1973-1990; e 1991-2004; tendo como referencial teórico o Realismo Estrutural, conforme proposto pela Escola Inglesa de Relações Internacionais. Na tentativa de responder ao questionamento que guiou essa pesquisa – o que condiciona o Mundo Árabe a viver uma permanente fragmentação, a despeito de todo o discurso unificador do arabismo? – buscou-se identificar quais desses fatores apontados pela literatura sobre integração no Mundo Árabe tiveram um peso relativo maior para o fenômeno não integrativo intra-árabe, no que concluiu-se que apenas a falta de complementaridade econômica regional não teve um papel relevante para a ausência de integração política intra-árabe entre os anos de 1954 e 2004.