pilF polymorphism-based real-time PCR to distinguish Vibrio vulnificus strains of human health relevance

The Gram-negative bacterium Vibrio vulnificus is a common inhabitant of estuarine environments. Globally, V. vulnificus is a significant foodborne pathogen capable of causing necrotizing wound infections and primary septicemia, and is a leading cause of seafood-related mortality. Unfortunately, molecular methods for the detection and enumeration of pathogenic V. vulnificus are hampered by the genetically diverse nature of this pathogen, the range of different biotypes capable of infecting humans and aquatic animals, and the fact that V. vulnificus contains pathogenic as well as non-pathogenic variants. Here we report an alternative approach utilizing the development of a real-time PCR assay for the detection of pathogenic V. vulnificus strains based on a polymorphism in pilF, a gene previously indicated to be associated with human pathogenicity. Compared to human serum reactivity, the real-time PCR assay successfully detected pathogenic strains in 46 out of 47 analysed V. vulnificus isolates (97.9%). The method is also rapid, sensitive, and more importantly can be reliably utilised on biotype 2 and 3 strains, unlike other current methods for V. vulnificus virulence differentiation

The Hindu community in Muscat: making homes in the diaspora

PublishedArticleThis is the final version of the article. Available from Taylor and Francis via the DOI in this record.This article looks at Muscat’s Hindu community, part of the city’s wider Indian society. It examines the diasporic home-making history, practices, and strategies that have created distinctly Hindu and Indian spaces in an Arab environment. It maps the community’s demographics and human geography, presents a case study of the Khimji Ramdas family, considers the community’s “permanent impermanence”, and assesses the challenges posed to the community by the kafāla (sponsorship) system and other government restrictions

Oman's maritime doctrine

The economic and security significance of maritime and political interests around the world has altered with the changing international security environment, as has the importance of secure sea routes to meet global demand. Oman increasingly relies on the sea for maritime trade and exploitation of marine resources, but without a common maritime policy and strategy to align its commercial and maritime interests, its offshore resources will remain under-developed. Oman’s primary interest is to ensure national maritime security by maintaining an effective navy and other agencies to guard its sea areas, and protect its maritime trade. However, it still lacks a formal maritime doctrine to underpin its policies This study argues that a maritime doctrine will assist Oman to utilise its maritime power and protect its national interests. In the absence of archive material, this study has drawn upon personal interviews with maritime experts and practitioners, and reviewed and analyzed a wide range of official publications and secondary sources on maritime policy and doctrine. It highlights the relationship between economic growth and maritime trade in Oman, examines the role of Oman’s shipping industry and related activities, and compares the experiences and expertise of several nations that have established maritime doctrine. Oman’s need for a maritime doctrine in order to protect its national interests and sovereignty is pressing. It should connect and coordinate its maritime power, military strategy, policies, and standing operating procedures through a single maritime doctrine that will provide the basis for mutual understanding between units of the Sultan’s Armed Forces, related government agencies, and national policy-makers, ensuring operational familiarity and efficiency. In proposing a discrete administrative body to oversee the codification of principles and procedures, the study fills a significant gap in Oman’s national maritime policy and strategy, since the expression of maritime doctrine will help protect the integrity and interests of the state and its people.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A history of anti-partitionist terspectives in Palestine 1915-1988

The diplomatic and political deadlock in what has come to be known as the Palestine/Israel conflict, has led to the re-emergence of an anti-partition discourse that draws its arguments from the reality on the ground and/or from anti-Zionism. Why such a re-emergence? Actually, anti-partitionism as an antagonism depends on its corollary, partitionism, and as such, they have existed for the same period of time. Furthermore, the debate between antipartitionists and pro-partitionists – nowadays often referred to as a debate between the one-state and the two-state solution – is not peculiar to the period around 2000. It echoes the situation in the late 1910s when the British were settling in Palestine and authorising the Zionist settler colonial movement to build a Jewish homeland thus introducing the seeds of partition and arousing expressions of anti-partitionism. This dissertation aims to articulate a political history of the antipartitionist perspectives against the backdrop of an increasing acceptance of Palestine's partition as a solution. This account runs from 1915 and the first partition – that of the Arab territories of the Ottoman Empire – to 1988 and the Palestinian recognition of the principle of partition. Thus, I argue that the antipartitionist perspectives have persisted throughout history. Such a historical perspective enabled me to consider the acceptance of partition as the result of a shift from a “national and territorial liberation” strategy to the search for “sovereignty and national independence”, a shift that was operated in the Palestinian national movement as well as in the Zionist movement, and which made statehood the main objective. In this regard, the Palestinian acceptance of the principle of partition and of a two-state solution may be regarded as a legitimation of the Israeli colonial settler state.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Relentless warrior and shrewd tactician : Shaikh Abdullah bin Ahmad of Bahrain 1795-1849 : a case study of Shaikhly statecraft in the nineteenth century Gulf

This study examines the political life of Shaikh Abdullah bin Ahmad al-Fatih Al Khalifa, the fifth ruler of the Al Khalifa dynasty and the third of that family to rule Bahrain. It is a political biography, examining the tactics used by Shaikh Abdullah and his family to fend off threats from various foes. Those tactics ranged from direct military combat, to entry into temporary protector-protégé relationships, to playing off one foe against another. His ability to employ such tactics effectively enabled him and his family to neutralize or defeat their foes. This study examines local statecraft tactics through the case study of one of the Gulf’s greatest nineteenth century statesmen. It also looks at the reasons that resulted in Shaikh Abdullah’s political downfall. Those reasons were domestic and external factors that the Shaikh seems to have either ignored or been unable to fully address. That inability and/or shortcoming in addressing those factors would have cost any Gulf ruler his rulership, not just Shaikh Abdullah, as similar aspects prevailed in the other Gulf shaikhdoms. The study examines the life of a political leader whose achievements have been played down, even neglected, by most modern historians in Bahrain and the Gulf. The reason for this neglect lies perhaps in the natural desire of the current ruling branch of the Al Khalifa family to discourage any potential future claim to the throne by the descendants of Shaikh Abdullah, who have lived in exile from Bahrain ever since Shaikh Abdullah’s overthrow in 1843.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The economic transformation of the Gulf

Authors' pre-print draft. Final version published as The economic transformation of the Gulf in Petersen, J.E. (ed.) The emergence of the Gulf States: studies in modern history, London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, pp. 187-222A survey of the various aspects of the pre-oil and early oil era Gulf states of Eastern Arabia, encompassing pearling, date farming, long-distance trade, and the early oil industry, as well as a literature review. I wrote 43% of this chapter (7,400 words)