Attaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage in Dubai\u27s Real Estate Industry

Real estate business leaders who fail to attain and sustain competitive advantage to increase profitability during periods of unstable or declining markets, experience either lost profits or bankruptcy. In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the brokerage market is saturated with over 5,000 active brokers and more than 2,000 registered real estate offices. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that successful leaders of Dubai medium-sized real estate businesses implemented to attain and sustain competitive advantage to increase profitability during periods of unstable or declining markets. The population for the study included business leaders of 4 medium-sized real estate businesses in Dubai, who had successfully implemented competitive advantage strategies. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with the 4 leaders and from artifacts such as the company websites and social media pages. The conceptual framework for this study was the strength-weakness-opportunity-threat analysis technique. Inductive analysis was used to code and identify themes in the collected data, and the trustworthiness of interpretations was supported by member checking. Four themes emerged: reduce operating costs, execute corporate real estate management, promote corporate social responsibility, and utilize human capital. Findings from this study could contribute to positive social change by providing real estate business leaders with insights regarding strategy implementations necessary for attaining and sustaining competitive advantage and increasing financial independence, thereby promoting the culture and strengthening the local economy

The Influence of the Discovery of Oil on the Poetry of a Selection of Modern Blind Poets from the Gulf Region

This Thesis looks up the dimensions of the oil age and oil impact on the works of blind poets from Arab Gulf countries with specific reference to al-Sālimī, al-Shabīb, and Ibn Ḥusayn. The Thesis covers the period from 1867 till 2014 and includes three important historical contexts that are both closely aligned to one another and crucial to the Gulf’s modern history, i.e. the pre-oil age, the onset of the oil age and the post-oil age. By dividing the scope of the Thesis into three key phases and distributing three blind poets as representatives of each phase, this Thesis will initially examine the impact of blindness on the poetic production of the selected blind poets from two perspectives: psychological and Sensory. The aim of such examination is to test and guarantee their unique ability to use imagery as efficiently as sighted poets despite being blind. After that, this Thesis will analyse the impact of the Gulf’s environment on shaping imagery in the poets’ works by adopting a semiotic methodology. In addition, it will shed light on the psychological reception of blind poets regarding the oil age and investigate its echo and signs on their work. Finally, the Thesis will adopt a historical methodology of tracing the impact of oil on the poetic style, language, content and topics of poetic production in the Gulf as of the pre-oil era, the oil era itself and the post oil era. This methodology will uncover the role that oil played in changing the Gulf’s poetry through tracing the transformations of poetic style and content during each historical phase

Osteoporosis in older Saudi women: A perspective study

The purpose of this research is to first discuss and discover reasons behind this increasing outburst of osteoporosis cases in older Saudi women and then to develop certain prevention strategies based on Social Cognitive Theory and this research and its reasoning, in an attempt to check the rapid increase of this disease in menopausal Saudi women. All of these targets can be achieved by an in-depth study of osteoporosis, and then applying this knowledge toward prevention of the disease

An internet survey of psychiatrists who have a particular interest in cognitive behavioural therapy: what is the place for the cognitive behavioural model in their role as a psychiatrist?

A survey of psychiatrists with a special interest in CBT was conducted by email correspondence to answer two main questions: ‘What are the uses and the usefulness of the cognitive behavioural model within the day-to-day practice of psychiatrists?’ and ‘What are the most important roles of the consultant medical psychotherapist who has specialized in CBT?’ Despite the constraints of a low response rate the results still reflected the views of 46 psychiatrists who were particularly experienced in the area of CBT. They reported that the cognitive behavioural model was useful in general psychiatric settings, in particular in the engagement of patients, improving client's insight, adherence to medications, and for trainee supervision. The responders reaffirmed previously held views about the role of the consultant medical psychotherapist (CBT), in particular the roles of the assessment and management of complex cases, of taking responsibility for patients with a combination of medical and psychological issues and of teaching CBT to psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. The challenges of translating CBT competencies into generic non-CBT psychiatric settings are discussed, with the important potential role of the medical psychotherapist in this respect. The key skill of formulating cases in secondary care is emphasized

The Perceptions of College Life Among International Music Students at American Universities

The purpose of this multiple-case study is to explore and describe the rewards and challenges facing international music students at American Universities. The research included two major questions: (a) what rewards and challenges do international music students face at an American university? And (b) what motivation do they have for graduating from an American university? Data collection included: semi-structured interview, field notes from observation, and focus group interview. The participants were three graduate international music students attending two major music institutions in the Midwestern United States. There were five emergent themes from the data analysis: institution preference, important of music in the U.S., social barrier, satisfaction of the program attending, and opportunities. The results from this research support earlier research in the literature that music international students preferred university in the United States because they felt the importance of music education in U.S. public education. Second, they preferred institutions with quality faculty and programs. Furthermore, international students attend American universities for better employment opportunities. In addition, they encountered social barriers in interacting with local students even without the language barrier

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in pediatrics: a report of seven cases from Saudi Arabia

This article is made available for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.Infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) emerged in 2012 as an important respiratory disease with high fatality rates of 40%–60%. Despite the increased number of cases over subsequent years, the number of pediatric cases remained low. A review of studies conducted from June 2012 to April 19, 2016 reported 31 pediatric MERS-CoV cases. In this paper, we present the clinical and laboratory features of seven patients with pediatric MERS. Five patients had no underlying medical illnesses, and three patients were asymptomatic. Of the seven cases, four (57%) patients sought medical advice within 1–7 days from the onset of symptoms. The three other patients (43%) were asymptomatic and were in contact with patients with confirmed diagnosis of MERS-CoV. The most common presenting symptoms were fever (57%), cough (14%), shortness of breath (14%), vomiting (28%), and diarrhea (28%). Two (28.6%) patients had platelet counts of < 150 × 109/L, and one patient had an underlying end-stage renal disease. The remaining patients presented with normal blood count, liver function, and urea and creatinine levels. The documented MERS-CoV Ct values were 32–38 for four of the seven cases. Two patients (28.6%) had abnormal chest radiographic findings of bilateral infiltration. One patient (14.3%) required ventilator support, and two patients (28.6%) required oxygen supplementation. All the seven patients were discharged without complications

Business process modeling for software acquisition - A literature review

Los Alamitos, US

The impact of co-infection of influenza A virus on the severity of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus

This article is made available for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.Ho and colleagues recently drew attention to the consequences of co-infection with Influenza and HIV.1 We present four cases of combined infection with influenza and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection. Nasopharyngeal swabs or tracheal aspirates were tested for MERS-CoV using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).2, 3 Samples were tested for Influenza A, B and H1N1 by rapid molecular test (GenEXper for detection of flu A, B and 2009 H1N1, Cepheid)