Tales from the old guards: Bithnah Fort, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates

This article examines the historical site of Bithnah fort, United Arab Emirates. Relevant historical sources were investigated, which highlighted the strategic importance of Bithnah's location in the Wadi Ham. A theoretical date was proposed for the site based on these historical references. The architectural features and material culture were combined with ethnographic information. This combination of sources allowed for a much clearer understanding of the fort's layout and interior use of space. It also provided a context for the village and agricultural space that surround the fortification of Bithnah.     

Laser scanning for the documentation and management of heritage sites within the Emirate of Fujairah,United Arab Emirates

The Emirate of Fujairah in the UAE has many important cultural and archaeological sites. These include the Fujairah and Al‐Bithnah forts and the Al‐Bidyah Mosque. With increasing tourism patronage and development of major infrastructure projects in and around Fujairah, these sites are increasingly under threat. Their present condition requires careful mapping for proper management and future preservation efforts. This paper presents a research project that is developing a method for surveying and recording important archaeological sites. Using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), a number of surveys were undertaken in and around the emirate. These surveys enabled a documentation of their present condition and will form an ongoing baseline study to monitor the impact of increased tourist patronage and climate change at these sites. We also investigate and make basic comparisons between our approach and the Structure from Motion (SfM) technique.     

阿联酋烨思宾馆：水里的游鱼

位于阿联酋阿布扎比的烨思宾馆,是纽约渐近线建筑事务所近年来最著名的项目。 该宾馆是一个8.5万平方米,拥有500间客房的综合体,它是耗资360亿美元的烨思码头开发项目的一部分,周围项目还包括F1阿布扎比汽车大奖赛的赛道。     

Bioarchaeology in the United Arab Emirates*

Physical anthropology and bioarchaeology (one of the newer interdisciplinary sub‐disciplines) are alive and well in the U.A.E. Older analytical approaches that rely on subjective observations and non‐systematic study of human remains are being replaced with more biocultural and processual approaches that integrate biological data from human remains within a broader archaeological and cultural context. With the publication of a major synthetic work based on analysis of the human remains from Jebel al‐Buhais, a new era of skeletal analysis in the U.A.E. has been heralded. This short review examines the ways that skeletal analysis can be integrated within broader archaeological contexts.     

Academic motherhood in the United Arab Emirates

Balancing the dual roles of mother and academic can be an intensive juggling act. Often, it is mothers who undertake the majority of domestic work in the household, and who tend to experience greatest consequences of this in the workplace; including stress, pressure and less likelihood of promotion. Research indicates that networks of support provided by families and friends can help alleviate these pressures. Academic parents who work outside of their home countries may not have access to these networks to share the work of raising children, but academics who work in the Arabian Gulf have inexpensive domestic help at their dispensation. The ways in which life as an expatriate affects academic mothers both professionally and personally is explored in this study set in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Interview data was gathered from ten expatriate academic mothers. It was found that, similarly to other studies in this field, mothers undertake the vast majority of coordination of domestic work and childcare in their homes, but that having domestic help enables them to enjoy more time with their families. However, there was no clear indication that having extra help at home enabled the women to partake more readily in their academic work. The majority of the women in this study considered that their lives as academic mothers are made easier by residing in the UAE, despite being far from family. This was in part due to ubiquitous domestic help, but also due to perceptions of the UAE providing a culturally family friendly working environment.     

一种生活 阿联酋的自由自在

阿联酋,全称阿拉伯联合酋长国(The United Arab Emirates),位于阿拉伯半岛东部,北濒临波斯湾,西北与卡塔尔为邻、西和南与沙特阿拉伯交界、东和东北与阿曼毗连,石油资源丰富。     

More prehistoric finds from the United Arab Emirates

On-going surveys in the UAE are providing additional prehistoric material, such as painted Ubaid-sherds and flints. Some new material from sites in the Emirate of Ajman and Umm al-Qaiwain is presented.     

The softstone vessels from ed-Dur, Umm al-Qaiwain, United Arab Emirates

Sixty-two softstone vessels found at the coastal site of ed-Dur, Umm al-Qaiwain (U.A.E.), less than 1% of the total amount of artefacts registered at the site, are examined for evidence of (inter)regional exchange. Emphasis is laid on the vessels from the PIR C phase. In recent research much attention has been paid to the spatial distribution and trade of softstone vessels of earlier times. An attempt will be made to do the same for the dark grey softstone vessels dating ca . 300 BC–300 AD.     

Circulating Power: Humanitarian Logistics,Militarism, and the United Arab Emirates

While critical authors have interrogated the roots of business logistics, this paper extends the analysis and contributes to a larger critique of the cohering field of Humanitarian Logistics (HL), noting the overlap in the logistical cartographies of militarism and humanitarianism. The focus is on the UAE's expanding logistics space into the Horn of Africa and the production of specialised HL zones like Dubai International Humanitarian City (DIHC). The article makes three core arguments. First, a logistics lens enables us to expand the study of aid beyond immediate conflict zones, into more distant spaces often constructed as “stable”. Second, the placement of logistics at the core of aid delivery has been a key mechanism for inserting market imperatives into humanitarian activities. Third, this gives countries outside the advanced core, such as the UAE, power to leverage and expand their logistics space for multiple purposes, in war making, aid, and commercial activities.     

Britain,the United Arab Emirates and the defence of the Gulf revisited

This article investigates the deepening of the UK's security and defence arrangements with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In recent years there has been a flurry of diplomatic activity indicating far closer engagement between London and Abu Dhabi. Rather than being an innovative initiative of the Cameron government, the interaction has deeper roots, with this article uncovering the importance of the relatively unknown Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) of 1996, signed by the Major government. Furthermore, the UK‐UAE defence relationship is shown to have endured beyond the infamous UK withdrawal from ‘east of Suez’ in 1971. The current engagement is, however, more intense and potentially far‐reaching than it had been in recent decades, with the defence sector being placed at the forefront of UK efforts to bolster the relationship with the oil‐rich Gulf emirate. Using official statements from London and Abu Dhabi, this article suggests that the UK‐UAE relationship has always remained intact, although it lost focus following the end of the Major government until the refocusing on the Gulf by the Cameron government. The article concludes with an assessment of the expectations of the UAE, and the strategic drivers underpinning UK policy.     

Knowledge Management Approach to Performance: a United Arab Emirates Experience

Knowledge management is gaining prominence in academia and practice. The need for organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to empower themselves through knowledge management cannot be ignored. Yet, not much empirical evidence on the subject can be found in the literature. This study investigates the effect of the following factors: organizational culture, organizational infrastructure, technical infrastructure, management support, reward and vision clarity on organizational performance in terms of efficiency, customer satisfaction, decision‐making, quality of work, and financial benefits. A questionnaire was used to collect data from general managers, functional managers, IT managers and chief knowledge officers from a variety of business companies from private and public sector drawn from Dubai Financial Market website. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results show that all investigated knowledge management dimensions are implemented in UAE organizations subject of this study. They are also significantly correlated with performance improvement except reward.     

The architecture of the Iron Age II fortified settlement at Muweilah (Sharjah,United Arab Emirates)

Excavations at Muweilah have uncovered twelve buildings encircled by two pairs of walls and ditches. We have published preliminary studies of several buildings. Research has now progressed to a stage where it is possible to produce a more complete analysis of the architecture. In this report, we present a detailed discussion of the fortifications and each building with its installations. Our assessment of the architecture identified the repeated combination of three rooms in many of the buildings in the Central Area of Muweilah. Moreover, a detailed study of the fortifications revealed several means of accessing Building II, the columned hall, in the Western Area. These findings offer insights into the organisation of Iron Age II settlements in south‐eastern Arabia.     

The Role of Efficacy,Optimism, and Political Networks in Legislative Elections: The Case of United Arab Emirates

The purpose of the present study on political participation in United Arab Emirates is to examine the factors that motivated people to cast their vote in the legislative elections of 2011. To this end, a special questionnaire was administered to a sample of 1,800 citizens and univariate and multivariate methods were used to analyze their responses. Findings reveal that three factors motivated people to cast their vote, namely 1) their political efficacy about the legislative body, 2) their optimism about the prospects of a newly elected legislature to improve their daily lives and to aid the government's effort to enhance public services, and 3) having political networks. The study recommends further research to find out factors behind the dwindling level of electoral participation in spite of a high level of political optimism and efficacy.