The purpose of my thesis was to counter Samuel Huntington’s argument that the world’s conflict is over differing civilizations, religions, or cultures. Whether or not religion is declining or growing, it cannot be used to portray the world in a 'cosmic war,' or a battle between 'good and evil'. Natural resources, not religions, rest at the basis for the Islamic fundamentalist and militant movement due to its response to the Western structural pressures that are modernizing Muslim societies. Oil and water become vital tools for exercising power and authority of one nation over another, and are identified as the true culprits for a conflict that is often furtively concealed.

Background: Since the discovery of oil in 1962, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has experienced far-reaching social and economic changes. As a result, the physical and social environment of the UAE is moving away from the traditional Bedouin lifestyle to one that is more westernized. Given this recent trend toward a westernized lifestyle, chronic diseases are becoming more prevalent, impacting the rates of chronic disease among children, adolescents, and young adults residing in the UAE as well. Null hypothesis 1: There is no association between the level of physical activity and overweight/obesity, and hypertension. Null hypothesis 2: There is no association between the frequency of fruit and vegetable intake and overweight/obesity, and hypertension. Null hypothesis 3: There is no association between smoking status and overweight/obesity, and hypertension. Objectives: • to assess the prevalence of fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, smoking, overweight/obesity, and hypertension among Arab college students in the UAE; • to determine the associations between fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, smoking, overweight/obesity, and hypertension Methods: Participants included men and women college students of Arab descent attending the American University of Sharjah, UAE. A questionnaire was used to assess demographics, tobacco use, physical activity, and diet of participants. A qualitative food frequency questionnaire was used to assess frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption, including fruit juice, fruit, lettuce, white potatoes, beans, tomato sauce, vegetable soup, and other vegetables. Height, weight, and blood pressure were measured and BMI was determined. Results: The study sample included 145 men (n=73) and women (n=72) age 18-25 years. The prevalence of smoking was higher among men compared to women (65.8% vs. 30.6%; p<0.001). The prevalence of physical activity was higher among men compared to women (84.9% vs. 55.6%; p<0.001). The prevalence of overweight was higher among men compared to women (31.5 vs. 16.7%; p=0.01). The prevalence of obesity was higher among men compared to women (11.0 vs. 2.8%; p=0.01). The prevalence of high blood pressure was higher among men compared to women (56.9 vs. 17.1%; p<0.001). Among men and women, the contribution of fruit juice to the total daily frequency of fruit consumption was 57%. Of the total study population, 25.2% reported a frequency of fruit and vegetable intake ≥ 5 times/day. For women, frequency of fruit and vegetable intake had a significant negative association with physical activity. Among men, fruit and vegetable intake ≥ 5 times/day was found to be negatively associated with hypertension. A positive association was found between BMI and hypertension for men. Conclusions: The results of the study uphold the hypothesis that fruit and vegetable intake is inversely associated with hypertension among men. Compared to women, men exhibited a greater prevalence of high blood pressure, smoking, overweight/obesity, and physical activity. Men and women did not differ in the frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption. For the total study population, fruit juice contributed to 57% of the total fruit daily fruit intake. Women who reported engaging in physical activity were more likely to report a frequency of consumption of fruits and vegetables < 5 times per day. 65.8% of men and 48.4% of the total study population reported smoking either cigarettes or sheesha. Smoking was found to be more prevalent among students reporting a country of origin in middle and low income categories. More information is needed on the energy intake of college-age Arab women and their exercise patterns to determine if an intervention is warranted to prevent disordered eating. More information is needed on the consumption of fruit juice among this population to determine if an intervention is needed to promote intake of whole fruits and vegetables to replace fruit juice consumption. Interventions that target smoking habits among Arab college students need to incorporate sheesha smoking, since this habit was found to be common among both men and women.

Family law regulates the formation of marriage, divorce, marital property rights, child custody, inheritance, and spousal duties. This study aims to demonstrate how family law formation in the Middle East and North Africa reflects the struggle among social and political forces to capture the state and assert authority. The balance of power between competing social forces impacts both the timing (short-term versus long-term struggle) and type (progressive or regressive) of family law after independence. The ability of one of two competing forces, broadly categorized as traditionalist versus modernist, to capture the state is necessary for codification and is predictive of family law content. Case studies reveal that systemic shocks (e.g. revolution, social unrest, or foreign intervention) tip the balance of power in favor of traditional or modernizing forces in the post-independence state-building process and facilitate the successful consolidation of power and the codification of family law.

The world economy is in a transition period never experienced before, One of the main realising factors, boosting economy growth, is the catch up of many emerging countries. The emerging countries impose new competitive dimensions to the global economy, forcing well established multinational corporations into new competitive situations, brining both opportunities and threats. The construction equipment industry has entered a condition of unprecedented growth. The total market demand has increased significantly and the demand development is prospected to continue for many more years. To keep up with the market demand and the sales opportunities, it is important to have machines available in the market. This impose that the logistic strategy is getting more important for companies in order to keep up with the prospected sales opportunities. This Masters thesis is initiated by our case company, Volvo Construction Equipment International, currently suffering from an inefficient logistics strategy constraining international growth. Based on our analysis and conclusion, Volvo Construction Equipment is recommended to move from transaction selling, spot market like international logistics strategy towards a relationship marketing based logistics strategy establishing in-depth collaborations with key account shipping suppliers. Furthermore, we recommend that Volvo CE should consider a logistics management function in order to facilitate the inter-organizational flow of logistics information.

An energy analysis was performed on the Texas A & M University at Qatar building in Doha, Qatar. The building and its HVAC systems were modeled using EnergyPlus. Building chilled water and electrical data were collected to validate the computer simulation. The simulated monthly electricity consumption was within plus/minus 5 percent of the metered building data. Ninety-five percent of simulated hourly electricity data in a day were within plus/minus 10 percent of metered data. Monthly chilled water demand was within plus/minus 18 percent of measurements, and simulated monthly demand was correlated to metered monthly values with an R-squared correlation coefficient of 0.95. Once the simulation was verified with the metered data, an optimization of the building's HVAC systems was performed. Better utilizing the building's variable speed fans at part loads showed potential annual electricity savings of 16 percent over the base case, with another 22 percent savings in chilled water energy. After converting chilled water savings to equivalent chiller electricity savings, the potential utility cost savings over the base case were found to be $90,000/yr at local utility rates. Reducing outdoor air intake to ASHRAE indoor air quality minimums yielded an additional 17 percent in potential chilled water savings and brought total monetary savings over the base case to $110,000/yr. Using a dedicated outside air system to precisely control individual zone ventilation showed potential for an additional 12 percent chilled water savings and $14,000 in yearly utility savings, while also eliminating cases of under-ventilation. A hypothetical retrofit of fan powered terminal units (FPTU's) resulted in energy savings only at very low minimum flow rates, below ventilation standards. Savings were never more than 20 percent over the no-fan case. Series FPTU's showed no savings at any flow setting and negligible difference was found between ECM and SCR motor control. Finally, the dependence on climate of each improvement was studied. Simulations were run in the relatively milder climates of Houston and Phoenix and compared to those found for Doha. It was found that variable speed fan operation is a more cost effective option for milder climates, while outside air control is more cost effective in extreme hot and humid climates such as Doha. Future study is needed to make the FPTU model valid for different climates and flow ranges.

The thesis attempts to illuminate the construction process of the Middle East as a separate region. Within this context, it first seeks to find out what a region means. For this sake, the thesis outlines the historical development of the discipline of geography and the changing meanings of region in line with the disciplinary developments. Furthermore, it concentrates on the emergence of the region Middle East, its denomination and transformation along with changing international politics. Finally, the thesis evaluates the existence of the ethnocentric geographical term Middle East within the context of current global conditions.

This thesis will examine the transformation in the Turkish foreign policy towards the Middle East and evaluate the relevance of &ldquo / soft power&rdquo / term for describing Turkey&rsquo / s new activism in the region. Since the establishment of the Turkish Republic, Turkey has aligned itself with the Western world so that this alignment has been the main determinant of its relations with the non-Western world. The Middle East was not an exception in this process. After decades of remaining aloof from the Middle Eastern affairs, Turkey has followed a new foreign policy towards the region, as part of its new foreign policy vision, since the AK Party coming to power in 2002 and has shown a growing willingness to participate in Middle Eastern affairs. Various arguments are developed by different actors, including the one elaborated in this thesis, to explain the new activism of Turkey in the region.

The main aim of this dissertation is to understand the change of Turkish state identity related to foreign policy behaviors after the collapse of the Cold War structure. The research question of this dissertation is why and how Turkey has constructed middle power identity, which is based on liberal foreign policies. This dissertation examines two main purposes. First purpose is to analyze AKP&rsquo / s liberalism based middle power policies from 2005 to 2010 toward the Middle East. In this dissertation, the liberal policies based on middle power are defined as implementing functional diplomacy, mediation role, niche di plomacy, coalition diplomacy, and norm diffusion. Second purpose is to understand the process of how the state constructs its policies. To that end, this dissertation takes notice of state identity, which is constructed by changes of circumstances, norms, state self-perception, and the perceptions of others. This dissertation assumes that the concept of middle power is one of Turkey&rsquo / s state identities in the area of foreign policy. Turkey&rsquo / s middle power behaviors make Turkey consciously aware of its middle power status. This dissertation analyzes the existence of two steps that are pathways for Turkey to understand itself as a liberal middle power in the international arena. The first step is to analyze the policies of &Ouml / zal, Erbakan and Cem. The second step is to examine AKP&rsquo / s foreign policy experiences and ideas, especially the ideas of Ahmet Davutoglu.

This thesis aims to investigate both the causes and effects of migration in the Middle East and North Africa with a view to identifying the patterns and trends that characterize migration phenomena in the region. It is argued that migration is a significant variable to understand the economic, social and political dynamics of the development that the MENA countries have experienced since imperial and/or colonial times. In its different variants, migration has been conditioned primarily by economic vicissitudes. With the exception of the Gulf states, all of the MENA countries have experienced significant levels of immigration as well as emigration especially since the 1980s when the structural effects of the oil crisis (1973) surfaced. The Iraq-Iran War of the 1980s and the Gulf War of the 1990s enhanced the existing trends of migration. In the absence of political reform and economic restructuring, the economies of the region have rejuvenated the conditions of migration. Having drawn upon sociological theories, political histories and economic analyses to identify and discuss the patterns and trends of migration, the present study argues in complete contrast to a policy-oriented Western scholarship that migration is far from being a stimulus for economic growth across the MENA countries.

<p><p>The thesis examines the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and, in order to achieve a better understanding of how MENA economies may attract FDI, attempts to identify their possible location-specific de-terminants. The analysis is based on the results of the cross-section OLS regression meth-od. The examined empirical model is based on the eclectic theory developed by John Dun-ning and the previous empirical studies. To test the relevant location-specific determinants of FDI inflows into MENA region, eighteen countries are sampled for the period 1996-2006. The results of the regression analysis show that physical infrastructure and trade openness are significant determinants of FDI in the MENA countries.</p></p>