'Dad says I'm tied to a shooting star!' Grounding (research on) British expatriate belonging

This paper analyses one British woman's everyday practices of belonging as she negotiates expatriate life in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In doing so, it responds to widespread calls to ground research on processes of transnationalism and diaspora by drawing on 18 months of ethnographic research and adopting a three-stranded analytical framework to reflect on the significance of domesticity, intimacy and foreignness in expatriate belonging. The author focuses on a single research subject to draw attention to a particular British expatriate experience otherwise neglected in migration research and the paper resonates with theoretical literatures aiming to challenge the binary divisions of geographies of belonging, including attachment/detachment.     

Assessment of contaminants in Dubai coastal region, United Arab Emirates

Coastal uses and other human activities have inevitably impinged on the Gulf environment; therefore, these regions require continuous monitoring. The investigated area covered the maximum fragments of Dubai coastal region in the Arabian Gulf. The determination of major oxides and trace metal concentrations in Dubai sediments revealed three heavily and moderately contaminated regions. One is in the far northeastern part at Al-Hamriya Sts 1–3 and contaminated by Fe, Cu, Pb, and Zn; the second is in the mid-northeastern part at Dry Docks and contaminated by Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn; and finally, the third is in the near southwestern part at Dubal and contaminated by Fe, Mg, Cr, Ni, and Zn. Al-Hamriya St 3 represented the highest values of Cu, Pb, and Zn, whereas Dubal exhibited the maximum values of Fe, Mg, Ba, Cr, Mn, Ni, and V. The anthropogenic discharge and natural deposits are the main sources of contamination. In general, all trace and major elements showed the minimal levels at Jebel Ali Sanctuary (Sts 11, 12, 13) except for Sr and Ca, which showed their maximum values. The highest concentrations of Ca and Sr are mainly attributed to carbonate gravel sands and sands, which cover most stations. Each of V and Ni showed negative correlation with TPH, which may be indicated that the source of oil contamination in the region is not related to crude oil but mostly attributable to anthropogenic sources. The significant positive correlation, which was found between trace metals and TOC indicates that organic matter plays an important role in the accumulation of trace metals in case of Cu, Zn, and Pb.     

International knowledge mobility and urban development in rapidly globalizing areas: building global hubs for talent in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

This paper examines the processes through which the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai attract and integrate knowledge workers into their labor markets. It focuses on how the UAE has acquired the human capital to create post-oil economies, deploying its oil windfalls into massive urban development strategies in order to create global hubs for talent. More significantly, it analyzes how the UAE’s strategies and frameworks for attracting global knowledge flows ultimately determine the degree to which expatriate knowledge embeds locally. Presentation of results from a large-scale human capital survey of firms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as key-informant interviews with senior human resource administrators at these firms, demonstrate these processes.     

Impact of lateral force-resisting system and design/construction practices on seismic performance and cost of tall buildings in Dubai, UAE

The local design and construction practices in the United Arab Emirates(UAE),together with Dubai’s unique rate of development,warrant special attention to the selection of Lateral Force-Resisting Systems(LFRS).This research proposes four different feasible solutions for the selection of the LFRS for tall buildings and quantifies the impact of these selections on seismic performance and cost.The systems considered are: Steel Special Moment-Resisting Frame(SMRF),Concrete SMRF,Steel Dual System(SMRF with Special Steel Plates Shear Wall,SPSW),and Concrete Dual System(SMRF with Special Concrete Shear Wall,SCSW).The LFRS selection is driven by seismic setup as well as the adopted design and construction practices in Dubai.It is found that the concrete design alternatives are consistently less expensive than their steel counterparts.The steel dual system is expected to have the least damage based on its relatively lesser interstory drifts.However,this preferred performance comes at a higher initial construction cost.Conversely,the steel SMRF system is expected to have the most damage and associated repair cost due to its excessive flexibility.The two concrete alternatives are expected to have relatively moderate damage and repair costs in addition to their lesser initial construction cost.     

Seismic design factors for RC special moment resisting frames in Dubai, UAE

This study investigates the seismic design factors for three reinforced concrete (RC) framed buildings with 4, 16 and 32-stories in Dubai, UAE utilizing nonlinear analysis. The buildings are designed according to the response spectrum procedure defined in the 2009 International Building Code (IBC’09). Two ensembles of ground motion records with 10% and 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years (10/50 and 2/50, respectively) are used. The nonlinear dynamic responses to the earthquake records are computed using IDARC-2D. Key seismic design parameters are evaluated; namely, response modification factor (R), deflection amplification factor (Cd), system overstrength factor (Ωo), and response modification factor for ductility (Rd) in addition to inelastic interstory drift. The evaluated seismic design factors are found to significantly depend on the considered ground motion (10/50 versus 2/50). Consequently, resolution to the controversy of Dubai seismicity is urged. The seismic design factors for the 2/50 records show an increase over their counterparts for the 10/50 records in the range of 200%-400%, except for the Ωo factor, which shows a mere 30% increase. Based on the observed trends, period-dependent R and Cd factors are recommended if consistent collapse probability (or collapse prevention performance) in moment frames with varying heights is to be expected.     

Improved characterization of local seismicity using the Dubai Seismic Network,United Arab Emirates

In April 2006, Dubai Municipality established a broadband seismological network in Dubai Emirate, United Arab Emirates (UAE). This network was the first seismic network in UAE and consists of four remote seismic stations to observe local and regional seismic activity that may have an effect on Dubai Emirate and the surrounding areas. The network exchanges real-time data with the National Center of Meteorology and Seismology in Abu Dhabi, the Earthquake Monitoring Center in Oman and imports in real-time data from few Global Seismic Network stations, which increases the aperture of the network. In April 2012, Dubai Municipality installed an additional five free-field strong motion stations inside the urban area to estimate and publish real-time ShakeMaps for public and decision makers. Although the local seismic activity from April 2006 to June 2013 reflects low seismic activity with the Emirate, it indicates active tectonics in the relatively aseismic northern Oman Mountains region. A few inland clusters of micro-to-small earthquakes have been identified with the new network. A clear cluster of small-to-moderate earthquakes took place in the eastern part of UAE to the east of Masafi, while two clusters of micro-to-small earthquakes took place at Wadi Nazwa and northern Huwaylat. Focal mechanisms of few well recorded earthquakes in this region indicate normal faulting, generally trending NE in parallel to the transition shear zone between the collision at Zagros and the subduction at the Makran zone.     

Change in the World City Network, 2000–2012

This article presents a large-scale analysis of the trajectories of individual cities and regions in the world city network between 2000 and 2012. The methodology used to examine cities' evolving network centralities is based on advanced producer services firms “interlocking” cities through their worldwide distribution of offices. We do not limit our analysis to a limited set of putative world cities, but incorporate 157 cities from all world regions into this global urban analysis. Absolute and relative measures of change are developed to reveal the major dimensions of change. The most notable finding is that significant connectivity gains have been limited to a small set of cities (Dubai, Shanghai, Beijing, and Moscow in particular) in the face of persisting core–periphery patterns at the level of the global economy, with New York and London remaining firmly at the apex. At the same time, overall levels of connectivity in the world city network have clearly risen, suggesting an increasingly integrated network. In geographical terms, a west-to-east shift is discernible, albeit uneven.     

Monitoring and analysing the Emirate of Dubai’s land use/land cover changes: an integrated,low-cost remote sensing approach

This study presents a modified low-cost approach, which integrates the spectral angle mapper and image difference algorithms in order to enhance classification maps for the purpose of monitoring and analysing land use/land cover change between 2000 and 2015 for the Emirate of Dubai. The approach was modified by collecting 320 training samples from QuickBird images with a spatial resolution of 0.6 m, as well as carrying out field observations, followed by the application of a 3?×?3 Soble filter, sieving classes, majority/minority analysis, and clump classes of the obtained classification maps. The accuracy assessment showed that the targeted 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 classification maps have 88.1252%, 89.0699%, 90.1225% and 96.0965% accuracy, respectively. The results showed that the built-up area increased by 233.721?km² (5.81%) between 2000 and 2005 and continues to increase even up and till the present time. The assessment of changes in the periods 2000–2005 and 2010–2015 confirmed that net vegetation area losses were more pronounced from 2000 to 2005 than from 2010 to 2015, dropping from 47,618 to 40,820?km², respectively. This study is aimed to assist urban planners and decision-makers, as well as research institutes.     

What conditions supply chain strategies of ports? The case of Dubai

Recent academic debates about port competition have centered on the strategic responses of port authorities, operators, managers and owners to the emergence of global supply chains. The competitive performance of a port authority or operator, given the rise of the integrated logistics sector, depends increasingly on its strategic relationship to these supply chains and rather less on traditional port competition factors such as hinterland size and physical infrastructure. However, there are few empirical studies investigating the degree to which particular port actors are capable of inserting themselves into global supply chains. In this article we ask what factors condition the supply chain strategies of port actors. We hypothesize that the strategic supply chain choices of a port authority or operator are conditioned by the territorialized institutional framework in which the dominant actors in a port operate. We apply these insights through a case study of the transformation of Dubai Port Authority, and the rise of Dubai Ports World (DPW).

The impact of organic pollution on the macrobenthic fauna of Dubai Creek (UAE)

Dubai Creek is a tidal marine intrusion bisecting Dubai within the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The creek extends 14km inland from its opening into the Arabian Gulf, with a narrow lower creek channel leading to a lagoon section in the upper creek. The creek contains numerous sources of organic pollution including sewage outlet flows and boat waste. A survey of the creek was performed, assessing organic pollution, water properties, and the benthic macrofaunal community. The upper creek was heavily polluted with macrofauna communities commonly associated with organic pollution and eutrophication, while the lower creek contained low pollution and relatively healthy macrofauna communities. There is little net tidal flow of water within the creek and residence time in the lagoon is high, which may account for the high organic pollution levels. However, some evidence of the pollution effect moving into the lower creek was found. The results are considered in light of current and historic organic loading within the creek and future developments in the area.