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Objectives: Identification of the high risk alleles, genotypes and haplotypes of the human leukocyte antigens (HLA) in different populations is beneficial for understanding their roles in type 1 diabetes (T1D) pathogenesis and intervention practices. This study aimed to identify T1D-associated HLA gene alleles in the Omani population. Methods: The present case-control study included 73 diabetic seropositive children (mean age 9.08 ± 3.27 years) attending the paediatric clinic at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital in Muscat, Oman, and 110 healthy controls. HLA–A, -B, -C, -DRB1 and -DQB1 genes were genotyped using a sequence-specific primer polymerase chain reaction (SSP-PCR). Results: Two HLA class I alleles (B*08, B*58) and three class II alleles (DQB1*02, DRB1*03 and DRB1*04) were associated with T1D susceptibility, while one class I (B*51) and three class II (DQB1*05, DQB1*06 and DRB1*16) alleles were associated with T1D protection. HLA-DRB1*03 and DQB1*02 alleles showed the strongest risk association among all alleles. Six DRB1 residues (E9, S11, S13, Y30, V70 and K71) were significantly associated with T1D susceptibility. Heterozygous genotypes, HLA-DRB1*03/*04 and DQB1*02/*03 were significantly associated with T1D susceptibility (P

The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of various influential elements and demographic characteristics on the digital employee experience, with a focus on the telecommunications sector in the Sultanate of Oman. The main objectives of the research are to assess the intensity of various elements such as digital tool usability, technology accessibility, training availability, leadership support, organisational culture, and working environment on the digital employee experience and to explore the relationship between digital employee experience and employee demographic characteristics such as gender, age, education level, work experience, digital literacy, and job tenure in the telecommunications sector in Oman. The data collection is made using an online survey with a sample size of 150 employees from top telecommunications companies in Oman using quota sampling. To accomplish the research goals, IBM SPSS Statistics was used to conduct quartile analysis and ANOVA. Based on the results, it was found that the intensity of digital tool usability on the digital employee experience is high when compared to the other elements, and all demographic characteristics except gender have an impact on digital experience. Several suggestions were made based on the information discovered from the findings.

Background: Antibiotics are heavily used for animal treatment, growth enhancer and protection from disease. The residues of antibiotics are related to antibiotic resistance which is the biggest threats to global health, food security and development today. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of antibiotic residues in available red meat in the Sultanate of Oman. Methods: The extraction was done using QuEChERS method by Aglient and 11 standards were used. The extract was analyzed using The Aglient 6460 LC-MS/MS. Result: The results showed that investigated Omani goat muscle and liver were free of antibiotics as latter they used as blank sample. All investigated Somali goat samples didn’t contain Tetracycline, Amoxicillin, Ceftiofur, Oxacillin, Deoxytetracline, Tylosin and Phenoxymethylpenicillin. Only two samples had Tilmicosin with value of 18-32.2 µl/kg which was that was lower than maxiumam residual limit (MRL). Around 48% of total somali goat samples contained Oxytetracycline (OXY) and Chlorotetracycline (CTC) with value lower than MRL. However, two samples had values of CTC and OXY exceeding the MRL. Ciprofloxacin and Enrofloxacine were detected in 9 samples exceeding the MRL. The finding of this study showed unsafe food source supply to Oman as detection of antibiotic residues in meat.

Informal risk management is widely practiced as it can be more agile and flexible compared to formal methods. There are abundant research studies covering areas such as technical and social aspects of informal risk management. Often a holistic approach is advocated integrating inputs coming from informal networks to consider, inter alia, social, cultural and emotional factors. These studies, though, fail to explore the motivation and do not account for the role of mutual benefit. Using ethnographic and interview data, we tackle the issue of how decision makers consider the interests of all relevant stakeholders, the role mutual benefit plays in informal risk management and the impact of the formal structure on informal risk management. The findings show that mutual benefit is an essential pillar for informal risk management by both stimulating the required response and balancing interests. Also, the formal structure impacts the informal network through the influence and ranks it confers on members, and by setting consequential limits.

Among the challenges to public health systems imposed by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been vaccine scarcity and the prioritization of high-risk groups. Countries have been prompted to accelerate the pace of immunization campaigns against COVID-19 to deploy the immunization umbrella to the largest possible number of target groups. In this paper, we share the perspective of Oman regarding the impact of accelerating the administration of the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in one border governorate (Musandam) by comparison to another border governorate (Al-Buraimi) where this approach was not applied.Daily admissions data (April 10, 2020 to June 24, 2021) and vaccination data (January 1 to June 24, 2021) were collected systematically. For each governorate, the cumulative doses (first and second doses) and vaccination coverage were calculated daily.Within 1 month, first dose vaccination coverage increased from 20% to 58% in Musandam, reducing the incidence of hospital admission by 75%. In comparison, vaccination coverage plateaued at 20% in Al-Buraimi, and the incidence of hospital admission increased by 500%.Given the peculiarity of the geographical location and being the first line of access for imported cases, border regions should be a priority for vaccine deployment as a preventive measure. The two different approaches reported here, implemented in broadly similar cross-border governorates, provide evidence of the significant effect of accelerating the first dose of vaccine in reducing hospitalizations.

Fusobacterium necrophorum causes a range of mild to life threatening infections and there is uncertainty in terms of diagnosis and treatment due to the lack of knowledge on their pathogenic mechanisms. This study characterised genomes of F. necrophorum to compare their virulence factors and investigate potential infection markers. 27 isolates of F. necrophorum from patients with pharyngotonsillitis were subjected to whole genome sequencing and compared with 42 genomes published in the NCBI database. Phylogenomics, pangemome, pan-GWAS and virulome were analysed to study strain variations with reference to virulence factors. Core genome based phylogenomic tree exhibited three clades of which Clade A belonged to F. necrophorum subsp necrophorum, clades B and C were F. necrophorum subsp funduliforme. Pan-GWAS and Pan-Virulome suggest some marker genes associated with clinical sources of isolation that needs further validation. Our study highlights some interesting features of the pathogenesis of F. necrophorum infections. Although the animal isolate genomes had some marker genes, the genomes of human isolates did not exhibit clear correlation to their clinical sources of isolation. This prompts to think of other mechanisms such as co-infections or host factors that can be involved in the pathogenesis.

Purpose At the substantive level, there exists a gap in knowledge about the position of security risk management (i.e. SRM) during the terminals’ operations and management; particularly when there is potential for deliberate anti-security acts. Correspondingly, the purpose of this paper is a need for more practical research to find out the justification for the existence of the SRM and different techniques for its appropriate execution on these logistics infrastructures principally with due regard to the potential requirements in the near future. Design/methodology/approach Both qualitative and quantitative techniques are used in this study incorporating fuzzy set theory and risk assessment matrix to achieve the research objective. Findings A designed SRM framework tailored for Qalhat liquefied petroleum gas (LNG) terminal in Sultanate of Oman was established to manage the security threats which can be resulted from any probable terrorist attacks. Research limitations/implications The limited numbers of experts for the purpose of the addressed SRM are causing challenges in data collection. Practical implications The pressures for enhanced attention to critical infrastructure security have fostered new challenges for petrochemical seaports and terminals (PSTs). These tendencies dictate to maintain comprehensive security regimens that can be integrated with national and international strategies to support the country’s security against terrorism. Originality/value The development of the security risk factor table model in the case of Qalhat LNG Terminal.

PurposeResearch on transparency has been concerned mainly with external transparency, leaving internal transparency understudied. In particular, there is a lack of empirical research on the relationship between internal transparency and organizational resilience. This paper aims at investigating how internal transparency impacts organizational resilience in a public entity. It also examines how (quality) management systems impact internal transparency, and thus organizational resilience.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on semi-structured interviews covering the relevant topics. A total of 32 interviews were undertaken between January and May 2018.FindingsThe findings indicate that internal transparency contributes to better preparedness to adverse conditions by enhancing the ability to cumulate, locate and share knowledge. Similarly, management systems improve internal transparency through the enhancement of communication flow, use of indicators and accretion of a database.Originality/valueThe paper is the first, as evident from the literature review, to investigate how internal transparency impacts organizational resilience. Hence, it sheds light on a very important aspect of the effective management of quality, risk and reliability. It is also one of the first papers to examine the mediating role of (quality) management systems in organizational resilience.

In this study, a series of 1,2,4-triazol-3-carbohydrazide derivatives and compound of 1,2,4-triazole-3-(4H)-thion have been synthesized. Structures and purity of the new compounds were confirmed by the use of their chromatographic and spectral data besides microanalysis. Four different bacterial stains for the study of the biological activity of compounds 6g, 7c, 7g and 7i; two Gram-positive strains, and two Gram-negative strains have been used. Compound 6g was found to be the most active of the four tested compounds against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus, with an inhibition zone diameter of 16, 9, and 10 mm, respectively. Calculating the minimal inhibitory concentration value (MIC) for the positive drugs who formed an inhibition zone in the agar well diffusion method, we found that both compounds 6g and 7i were the most active of the four tested compounds against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus cereus with an MIC value of 0.5 µg/mL for both bacteria. These results suggest that these two compounds could be considered as potential antibacterial agents against a range of bacteria.

This paper is for people to realize a strategic way of continuous improvement though optimization and standardization process with a minimum of 10% target cost reduction while developing capability in the organization in the south of Oman. BN area is one of the main production areas in PDO (Petroleum Development of Oman) and is being operated under BR cluster from 1980s. Approximately eleven fields in the BN area are contributing to the success today. Continuous improvement through optimization and cost reduction has always been a top priority, where long term production and safety has been fulfilled. In 2020, this team has been put together to look into the overall cost saving potential with the clear management steering of "Do not Leave any Stone Unturned". A mixture of experience and young team members are retained to ensure capability development in the organization. One of the key items that this team looked at is to standardize of upcoming Oil Producers and Water Injectors well design. The well design in at least 7 fields in the BN area has been reviewed and realized the value and risk through competitive scoping exercise. By avoiding looking at the fields in isolation, the team has considered a similarity of well functionality and had identified where the standard well design can be applied. Minimum functional requirements lead to minimum technical specification and building into a staircase of option with clear associated risk for each option. Through the analysis, a potential optimization of an existing well design has been discovered and is currently undergone further maturation toward design endorsement. With the maturation of the uniformity of well design in the area, it is foreseeing as an opportunity to ensure improvement can be sustained in the long run. Minimum 10% saving of well cost through standardization and efficiency in project management is a target set, aiming to provide stability in planning. In addition, the team are looking into even more than 10% cost saving through innovative contracting strategy. It could potentially help to speed up the delivery of the project, accelerate production with less waiting time i.e. improve material stock management, simplify procurement process, ensure that the experience remains in the organization and will allow for replication in the future. The approach involves a combination of integrating team from subsurface, surface, wells, contract, and procurement to enhance cost saving to the company. This has proven to be effective and aligned with the company's focus to consolidate a commercial mind-set thinking in each development.

Bacterial endophytes were isolated from the leaves of Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd. and screened for their in vitro antagonistic activity against three important phytopathogenic fungi viz., Neoc...

One of the major organ and resource in human is brain which is interconnected with millions of neurons, these neurons can be used to know the attention of human at different time intervals. The human brain waves plays a vital role in controlling and monitoring the devices and environment. The EEG sensor is used to transfer brain waves using Bluetooth and automated through a microcontroller for knowing the attention of the Human brain. The major system in the designed work is with Arduino Mega Microcontroller which is programmed to monitor the attention of the brain activities. All the readings helps in predicting the status of the human brain Activity. The quality of the work is defined by recording the mental states of human brain by different frequencies of brain waves. The different frequencies are detected are alpha, beta, gamma and delta patterns. In the carried work real time simulation and testing is done on breadboard. The implementation results are clearly shown by signifying each step importance. The outcomes of the carried work are monitored in real time and checked through Internet of things (IOT). The carried work is tested on different participants and they were advised to analyze and think on various tasks such as left, right, forward and back. The data is although collected from various participants for correlation and deviation values. In general the analysis is performed with the thinking data and computed in terms of attention levels. Further to this it can be used for Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive impaired people to know the exact thinking of the people and their needs or requirements.

In the device-device communication paradigm (D2D) in 5G networks, an efficient infrastructure is created, allowing the use of various smart urban applications, such as public safety. In future smart cities, the tight deployment of wireless sensor networks can be integrated into 5G networks using D2D communications. D2D communication provides direct communication between neighbouring user devices using cellular or special communication channels, thereby improving spectrum utilization, system capacity and network energy efficiency. This paper discusses the hierarchical communication architecture of D2D, in which the centralized Software-Defined Network controller (SDN) interacts with the Cloud Head (CH) to reduce the number of requested LTE communication channels, thereby improving power consumption. This paper considers the reliability and potential of the architecture, presenting a public safety scenario when occurs any disaster, disconnecting a part of the network.

Since the discovery of the Khuff and Kahmah reservoirs at Mukhaizna field in 2010, Oxy Oman has faced a number of challenges in producing heavy oil (8000-20,000 cP) from these carbonate reservoirs. These large, low-productivity reservoirs have few analogues in the world, so Oxy has had to find our own way, pioneering new approaches to bring these reserves to market. In addition to the complicated geology of these naturally fractured, vuggy, and dolomitized carbonate reservoirs, identifying the right steam injection method and selecting the best artificial lift system were critical to the success of the project. This paper covers the staged field development methodology, which we found to be beneficial for reducing both geological and reservoir engineering uncertainties. We will share our analysis and evaluation of various development concepts, including steamflooding, sequential steam injection, and scheduling cyclic steam stimulation across the field to optimize overall field production rates. Our focus on data gathering and analysis has enabled us to optimize both our completion design and artificial lift selection, which has reduced downtime and lowered operating costs by nearly 50%. Persistent efforts by our engineers during the past two years have resulted in peak oil production this year – without any significant drilling activity.

Green leafy vegetables are very nutrient-dense and incredibly healthy. They are vital sources of antioxidants and they are the best which are very beneficial to providing weight loss and maintenance, because it keeps you feeling full and helps control your hunger. Also, leafy vegetables are full of fiber, vitamins; minerals and substances that help protect you from disease [1] [2]. For this we choose five types of vegetables which are lettuce, cabbage, parsley, spinach and arugula to estimate some nutritional values present on them such as: carbohydrate (sucrose, fructose, glucose and starch), protein, amino acids (lysine and phenyl alanine), vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and lipid. The results obtained were analyzed and the relative percentages of these compounds were tabulated. Among the five green leafy vegetables the glucose content was highest in lettuce and was least in arugula. Among the five green leafy vegetables the fructose content was highest in parsley and was least in cabbage. Among the five green leafy vegetables the sucrose content was highest in parsley and was least in cabbage. Among the five green leafy vegetables the starch content was highest in lettuce and was least in spinach. Among the five green leafy vegetables the ascorbic acid content was highest in lettuce and was least in parsley and arugula. Among the five green leafy vegetables the protein content was highest in parsley and was least in cabbage. Among the five green leafy vegetables the lysine content was highest in cabbage and was least in arugula. Among the five green leafy vegetables the phenyl alanine content was highest in cabbage and was least in spinach. Among the five green leafy vegetables the lipid content was highest in lettuce and was least in cabbage.

This exploratory paper presents findings of the pilot study on the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) implementation process framework in government. The pilot study's case was conducted at one EAI project in Oman with the intention to investigate implementation factors that influence its process, from the beginning until the end of technology life-cycle. Using Grounded Theory Approach (GTA), 12 factors were found to be influenced in the process of EAI implementation. Although the factors influencing the EAI implementation might appear similar on the surface to the common IT implementation but they are fundamentally not. This might be explained by the stakeholders' involvement throughout the process.

In this paper, I argue that English could be of more relevance to the Arabian Gulf if we conceptualized it as an educational forum for familiarizing students with socio-linguistic conventions relating to a wide variety of text types and for sharpening their critical awareness of the political implications of the uses of English. I make my case against the backdrop of a particular local context in the Arabian Gulf: the current BA programme in English at the College of Arts and Social Science, Sultan Qaboos University, the Sultanate of Oman. I maintain that the programme is predicated upon conceiving of English as a field (or rather fields) of knowledge, as academic disciplines of English literature, linguistics and translation, each with its own sets of concepts and frames of reference. As such, the programme both falls short of being fully theoretically coherent and fails to take into account the recent educational developments in Oman. Drawing upon the theoretical construct of discourse, I propose an outline of an alternative BA programme in English that revolves around the uses of English and their political implications.

Mukhaizna field is one of the old fields in Southern Central of Oman. It was discovered in 1975, where Gharif was the primary target. Since then, the oil production was solely coming from Gharif reservoirs. Due to regular evidence of potential presence of hydrocarbon in Kahmah and Khuf groups from conventional wireline logs and old mud logs. Therefore, by early 2010, petrophysics was used heavily to validate the status of Kahmah group in terms of reservoir properties, mobility, pay thickness, and productivity across block-53 in Mukhaizna. The outcome of this analysis, Kahmah group found to hold more than 500 million barrels of heavy oil in place. Later, the appraisal was executed in phases and productivity was validated by placement of horizontal wells within this group at different locations. This paper will demonstrate the discovery process, appraisal results and focus on a very innovative thermal enhanced oil recovery technique introduced by Occidental Mukhaizna. This technique is expected to unlock similar resources of heavy oil in highly fractured carbonate in Oman and the region with estimated oil in place to be greater than 130 billion barrels.

Mukhaizna field is a giant, 14-18° API heavy oil field developed in Permian-age fluvial sandstones of the Gharif Formation in south Oman and is presently under steamflood. Following a period of cold production development involving the drilling of 75 horizontal producers and production of about 3% of OOIP, a steamflood FDP was developed and is being executed. Based on this FDP, hundreds of horizontal producers and thousands of vertical injectors are planned to be drilled over 15 years. As of December 2009, significant progress has been shown as a result of executing the FDP; e.g., production has ramped-up rapidly and is expected to reach the plateau production target in 2012-13.

A clastic reservoir in central Oman is to be developed with some 100 wells. The rock is sensitive to formation damage and experience shows that productivity is improved by a factor of 10 by perforating with deep-penetrating charges underbalanced and avoiding contact of brine with the formation. The wells will be horizontal to drain a 24.5m oil rim, and zonal isolation for future water and gas shutoff is desirable. An interval of 600 meters was perforated with 4 ½" OD guns. The guns were retrieved under pressure and a lower completion packer was run to isolate the reservoir from the surface. The upper completion was run with crude in the hole to ensure that no brine should contact the formation. To perforate underbalanced with a drilling rig, the well was constructed with a 7" liner at the start of the build section to total depth of the well. A 7" tie-back was run with a surface controlled downhole isolation valve (DHIV) as a barrier after perforating. The well was displaced to crude to create underbalance. A 7" predrilled liner joint was run beneath the DHIV in the work string to allow circulating out well bore fluids so that the guns could be retrieved safely. A rotating control head and underbalanced drilling surface equipment package was utilized for stripping with 8,000 kPa surface pressure bleed off volumes for tripping and manage the crude circulating system. The tie-back was retrieved and the upper completion was run after setting a plugged packer in the 7" liner. This method is unique because it utilized a conventional drilling rig for completion operations along with an underbalanced drilling package to perforate and complete the well underbalanced.