5,150 research outputs found
Sustainable Development of the Nile River at Greater Khartoum
No full textSudan is the largest country in Africa, but there is poverty and a lack of infrastructure, skills and opportunity despite its substantial natural resources. The capital of Sudan is Khartoum City,
located at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile Rivers. Unfortunately development on Nile
River Front is limited due to the risk of flooding and erosion. There is a danger that rapid
economic development may take place in this unique area without sustainable development
planning. This research project aims to develop strategies to protect the Nile River banks by
suitable stabilization methods so that development can take place safely.
Data has been collected about hydrology, morphology, geotechnical factors, soil classifications, river pattern systems, driving forces, and the main problems restricting sustainable development and engineering works for the Nile River. In addition the following have been reviewed: historical background, existing land uses, current environmental situations, and the economic and social conditions of the study areas. Research identified Cairo, Egypt as a similar case study, where data collected by the author included historical background, current situations, strategic visions and development plan for Nile River Shores. Further information was collected about sustainable development from a general literature review.
From these collected data a set of guidelines and indicators for sustainable development was
established related to environmental, economic and social factors. Based on those guidelines and
indicators, methods of stabilization of the banks for each shore were specified and a proposed
development plan was established. Methods of stabilization of banks and the development plan
were refined and evaluated to establish a final version of the development plan: Sustainable
Development of the Nile River Front (SDNRF) at Greater Khartoum. From refinement and evaluations, barriers and constraints for implementation were specified with their suggested
solutions. Finally, conclusions and recommendations related to the SDNRF Manual about
development and regulations were established
Wind Energy in Egypt: Economic Feasibility for Cairo
No full textMotivated by the rise of the electricity tariffs applied on industrial customer and the frequent electricity cut offs recently experienced in Egypt, this paper assesses the economic feasibility of installing a stand alone wind energy technology by an industrial customer who seeks to reduce his dependency on the national grid. For this purpose, the wind energy potential at the wind regime of Cairo was chosen to be assessed using half an hour wind speed data for a full one-year period (2009). The Weibull parameters of the wind speed distribution function were estimated by employing the maximum likelihood approach. The estimation revealed that Cairo has poor wind resources. Despite the poor resources, the financial analysis has shown that under certain parameters the wind project can prove to be financially viable. Thus harnessing wind energy through stand alone systems can help in meeting the industries electric power needs.Renewable energy, wind resources, Weibull distribution, electricity
On the determination of the spatial energy balance of a megacity on the example of Cairo, Egypt
No full textThis research deals with different aspects of the spatial urban energy balance on the example of the megacity Cairo, Egypt. The energy balance and its single terms were measured in situ during a field campaign in Cairo at three different locations (urban, suburban agricultural and suburban desert) from November 2007 to February 2008. The net radiation and the heat fluxes showed distinct variations between the three stations, representing part of the spatial diversity of the area. The net radiation was highest at the suburban-agricultural location; lowest values were recorded at the suburban-desert station. The urban station ranged in between. The soil heat flux was only measured at the two suburban sites and proved to be highly dependent on the storage term. While the urban and the suburban-desert station had comparable turbulent heat fluxes, the suburban-agricultural station stand out with a low sensible but very high latent heat flux. Cairo acted as a nocturnal heat island - comparing the urban with the two suburban stations. During the day however, the suburban-desert temperatures topped the urban temperatures.
The spatial diversity was also captured using various remote sensing approaches using ASTER satellite data. The strong heterogeneity of the area of interest proved to be the major challenge for the different approaches. The estimation of the net radiation was dependent on a accurate atmospheric correction, which was complicated by the heavy, but spatially varying air pollution over the megacity. The determination of the ground heat flux was done using empirical equations. Some of the used approaches proved to be applicable even in this extreme environment. One promising, as simple approach for the turbulent heat fluxes (S-SEBI: Simplified Surface Energy Balance Index) was not usable in the area due to observed high variations in surface temperatures in the desert. Two other approaches (LUMPS: Local-Scale Urban Meteorological Parameterization Scheme and ARM: Aerodynamic Resistance Method) could be used to deduct turbulent heat fluxes in a satisfactory range. However, the spatial analysis showed that more research is needed to represent turbulent fluxes in such a heterogeneous area. Besides this, a small study on the estimation of aerodynamic resistance to heat using morphometric methods was conducted. The study showed that the aerodynamic resistance to heat can be estimated successfully from a digital surface model, knowing surface specific empirical parameters.
Besides the energy balance research, also the CO2 flux and concentrations were analysed. The CO2 flux showed a clear weekly dependence on the traffic, but generally fluxes were low considering the strong emissions induced by the old cars and the heavy traffic of Cairo. This result might be due to the spatial distance of the measurement to the streets.
Two in-depth studies about the urban albedo were conducted additionally to the flux research, analysing the dependence of the satellite measured albedo on the sun’s position, atmospheric scattering, housing density and viewing angle
Adapting authoritarianism: institutions and co-optation in Egypt and Syria
No full textThis PhD thesis compares Egypt and Syria’s authoritarian political systems. While the tendency in social science political research treats Egypt and Syria as similarly authoritarian, this research emphasizes differences between the two systems with special reference to institutions and co-optation. Rather than reducibly understanding Egypt and Syria as sharing similar histories, institutional arrangements, or ascribing to the oft-repeated convention that “Syria is Egypt but 10 years behind,” this thesis focuses on how events and individual histories shaped each states current institutional strengthens and weaknesses. Specifically, it explains the how varying institutional politicization or de-politicization affects each state’s capabilities for co-opting elite and non-elite individuals.
Beginning with a theoretical framework that considers the limited utility of democratization and transition theoretical approaches, the work underscores the persistence and durability of authoritarianism. Chapter two details the politicized institutional divergence between Egypt and Syria that began in the 1970s. Chapter three and four examines how institutional politicization or de-politicization affects elite and non-elite individual co-optation in Egypt and Syria. Chapter five discusses the study’s general conclusions and theoretical implications.
This thesis’s argument is that Egypt and Syria co-opt elites and non-elites differently because of the varying degrees of institutional politicization in each governance system. Rather than view one country as more politically developed than the other, this work argues that Syria’s political institutions are more politicized than their Egyptian counterparts. Syria’s political arena is, thus, described as politicized-patrimonialism. Syria’s politicized-patrimonial arena produces uneven co-optation of elites and non-elites as they are diffused through competing institutions. Conversely, the Egyptian political arena remains highly personalized as weak institutions and individuals are manipulated and molded according to the president’s ruling clique. This is referred to as personalized-patrimonialism. As a consequence, Egypt’s political establishment demonstrates more flexibility in ad hoc altering and adapting its arena depending on the emergence of crises.
This study’s theoretical implications suggest that, contrary to modernization and democratization theory’s adage that institutions lead to a political development, politicized institutions within a patrimonial order actually hinder regime adaptation because consensus is harder to achieve and maintain. It is within this context that Egypt’s de-politicized institutional framework advantages its top political elite. In this reading of Egyptian and Syrian politics, Egypt’s personalized political arena is more adaptable than Syria’s. These conclusions do not indicate that political reform is a process underway in either state
Shams al-dim al-Sakhawi as a historian of the 9th/15th century : with an edition of that section of his chronicles (Wajiz al-kalam) covering the period 800-849 / 1397-1445
No full textAlthough a prolific writer of history, Sakhawi is, primarily, a
traditionist. As such, accuracy both in utterance and writing would,
by the very nature of his training, be his first objective.
Modern writers appear to have neglected the importance of his
contribution to the understanding of the history of his century.
accept for a few articles, comparatively little has been written. It
is, therefore, strange that such a mine of information as Sakhawi's
writing presents has remained so long in oblivion.
In this thesis an attempt has been made to evaluate that contribution
together with an edition of part of his work.
The study has been divided into three sections, the first dealing
with Sakhawi’s life and times. This part of the study is based largely
on his autobiography which was written but a few months before he died.
During research no reference was discovered to this most informative
work.
The section falls into three chapters, the first of which endeavours
to show the political and educational aspects of Cairo during the early
part of Sakhawi's lifetime. Cairo was his native city and, as such,
made great impact on his early life.
In the second chapter the position of his family, his Shaykhs, the
academic journeys he made, his residence in Hijaz and the last phase of
his life are portrayed.
The third chapter deals with his activities as an adult, his reputation
as a traditionist together with a survey of his works as presented in
his autobiography.
In the second part, the study deals exclusively with Sakhawi as
a historian of the 9th/15th century. This part also is divided into
two chapters, the first of which considers the following aspects: -
I Sakawi's works on the century;
II His motives, methods and literary style and
III His treatment of the history of the century.
The second chapter collates Sakhawi's methods of selecting his
information and the painstaking efforts he made to verify them, together
with his historical achievements, while the last two topics endeavour to
evaluate his task as a historian in that century.
Section three presents the hitherto unedited part of Wajiz al-Kalam...
which deals with the history of the 9th/15th century. This section
also falls into the three divisions of preface, text and annotations.
The last divides again into two groups one of which deals with the
textual variants mentioned in the footnotes and the other attempts to
deal with the interpretation of most of the idiom, colloquial expressions
and the names of places and personalities mentioned in the supplement to
the text
The impact of the estimation strategy of the cerebral critical closing pressure on the autoregulation index
No full textCerebral autoregulation (CA) encompasses a series of physiological mechanisms that are necessary to regulate blood flow in the brain. The procedure for CA assessment via the autoregulatory index (ARI) requires the estimate of the critical closing pressure (CrCP). The study aims at investigating the impact of the strategy exploited for CrCP estimation on ARI by comparing three approaches: i) fixed CrCP at 12 mmHg (CrCP12); ii) first harmonic (H1) method applied to waveforms of arterial pressure (AP) and cerebral blood velocity (CBv); iii) 2-point technique using mean and diastolic AP and CBv values (2Pm). Analysis was carried out over AP and CBv signals recorded in 25 healthy subjects (age: 44 ± 10 yrs, 12 females, 13 males) at rest in supine position and during active standing. Computation of CrCP was complemented by the assessment of the resistance-area product (RAP). We found that the H1 and 2Pm methods led to different values of CrCP and RAP. However, the strategy selected for the CrCP computation did not affect the ARI estimation, and this result held regardless of the experimental condition. We conclude that the CrCP12 strategy can be safely utilized instead of more complex methods for the CA characterization based on ARI
M/V Harry Truman on the Mississippi River, 1951
No full textView of the M/V Harry Truman, of the Federal Barge Line, attempting to break a path through ice on the Mississippi River anear Cairo, Illinois, February 1951.https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-mss-mpressscimitar5/1030/thumbnail.jp
The plight of women in Egyptian cinema (1940s 1960s)
No full textIt has been suggested that the period between the 1940s and the 1960s was 'the golden age' of Egyptian cinema -a period of growth, innovation and popularity. The aim of this research is to focus on the plight of Egyptian women in selected long feature films of this period, and how this -was realistically represented on the screen. It was a daunting task for the present researcher to embark on such controversial gender issues, especially from a westerner's perspective on a Muslim Arab society. But the researcher's determination and sense of duty to investigate and expose the hardships of Egyptian womenfolk through films, managed to overcome that feeling of trepidation, together with the tremendous support of her advisor Dr. Zahia Salhi.
This study begins by tracing the historical development of Egyptian cinema and the important role played by female pioneers in the newly emergent film industry, whereby an assessment of the role of these pioneers is also considered. This leads to an analysis of the status of the Egyptian woman within her socio-historical and cultural contexts that are essential for the identification of gender based representational strategies in these films. The research reviews major film theories related to representation, communication and gender issues, and how films as products of their creators, are connected to the social, economic, political and cultural backgrounds of a given time and place. In addition to these film theories,
the study recommends a textual variation approach for film analysis, for those films based on literary texts that have been adapted to the screen. The textual variation
approach looks for the ways in which the film director modifies the original text when it is adapted into a film. The aim behind the textual variation approach is tounderstand the function of the dominant theme in both literary text and film, and scrutinise its visible or latent realistic meanings vis ii vis the structures of thought which dominated the Egyptian society of the 1940s to the 1960s. It is these structures of thought that impose on the film-makers the textual variations from novel to film. The difference in the time period when the novel was written is compared with the period when the film was produced in order to assess the present social dominant ideologies or the shifting values. Thus, the time dimension factor, together with the film-makers' own views, help us determine the internal expectations of the Egyptian society and the realistic plight of its womenfolk. To bring the concept of textual variation into application, three film case studies are considered, th e findings of which demonstrate that when textual variations or total
adherence to the novel were involved, dominant ideologies were either reaffirmed, shifted or evolved according to the era of the film production
Francesco Cairo. Diana
No full textIl testo illustra un capolavoro dipinto da Cairo intorno al 1645-165
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