This book presents a case study on a new approach for the optimum design of rooftop, grid-connected photovoltaic-system installation. The study includes two scenarios using different brands of commercially available PV modules and inverters. It investigates and compares several different rooftop grid-connected PV-system configurations taking into account PV modules and inverter specifications. The book also discusses the detailed dynamic MATLAB/Simulink model of the proposed rooftop grid-connected PV system, and uses this model to estimate the energy production capabilities, cost of energy (COE), simple payback time (SPBT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for each configuration. The book then presents a comprehensive small signal MATLAB/Simulink model for the DC-DC converter operated under continuous conduction mode (CCM). First, the buck converter is modeled using state-space average model and dynamic equations, depicting the converter, are derived. Then a detailed MATLAB/Simulink model utilizing SimElectronics (R) Toolbox is developed. Lastly, the robustness of the converter model is verified against input voltage variations and step load changes.

One of the early set of reforms that South Africa embarked on after emerging from apartheid was in the water sector, following a remarkable, consultative process. The policy and legal reforms were comprehensive and covered almost all aspects of water management including revolutionary changes in defining and allocating rights to water, radical reforms in water management and supply institutions, the introduction of the protection of environmental flows, and major shifts in charging for water use and in the provision of free basic water. Over ten years of implementation of these policy and legislative changes mean that valu-able lessons have already been learned and useful experiences gained in the challenge of effective water resources management and water services provision in a middle income country.

Offering a cross-country examination and comparison of drought awareness and experience, this book shows how scientists, water managers, and policy makers approach drought and water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions of Spain, Mexico, Australia, South Africa and the United States.

Leaving aside human and social capital for a future volume, the book should be viewed as a crucial first step in developing indicators for total wealth in the countries covered by the case studies, which include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Africa. These case studies experiment with implementing the SEAA in sub-Saharan nations known to suffer from the 'resource curse': their wealth in resources and commodities has allowed inflows of liquidity, yet this cash has not funded crucial developments in infrastructure or education. What's more, resource-driven economies are highly vulnerable to commodity price mutability. The new measures of wealth deployed here offer more hope for the future in these countries than they themselves would once have allowed for.

Thermofluid Modeling for Sustainable Energy Applications provides a collection of the most recent, cutting-edge developments in the application of fluid mechanics modeling to energy systems and energy efficient technology. Each chapter introduces relevant theories alongside detailed, real-life case studies that demonstrate the value of thermofluid modeling and simulation as an integral part of the engineering process. Research problems and modeling solutions across a range of energy efficiency scenarios are presented by experts, helping users build a sustainable engineering knowledge base. The text offers novel examples of the use of computation fluid dynamics in relation to hot topics, including passive air cooling and thermal storage. It is a valuable resource for academics, engineers, and students undertaking research in thermal engineering.

This book presents a case study on a new approach for the optimum design of rooftop, grid-connected photovoltaic-system installation. The study includes two scenarios using different brands of commercially available PV modules and inverters. It investigates and compares several different rooftop grid-connected PV-system configurations taking into account PV modules and inverter specifications. The book also discusses the detailed dynamic MATLAB/Simulink model of the proposed rooftop grid-connected PV system, and uses this model to estimate the energy production capabilities, cost of energy (COE), simple payback time (SPBT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for each configuration. The book then presents a comprehensive small signal MATLAB/Simulink model for the DC-DC converter operated under continuous conduction mode (CCM). First, the buck converter is modeled using state-space average model and dynamic equations, depicting the converter, are derived. Then a detailed MATLAB/Simulink model utilizing SimElectronics (R) Toolbox is developed. Lastly, the robustness of the converter model is verified against input voltage variations and step load changes.

Offering a cross-country examination and comparison of drought awareness and experience, this book shows how scientists, water managers, and policy makers approach drought and water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions of Spain, Mexico, Australia, South Africa and the United States.

Leaving aside human and social capital for a future volume, the book should be viewed as a crucial first step in developing indicators for total wealth in the countries covered by the case studies, which include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Africa. These case studies experiment with implementing the SEAA in sub-Saharan nations known to suffer from the 'resource curse': their wealth in resources and commodities has allowed inflows of liquidity, yet this cash has not funded crucial developments in infrastructure or education. What's more, resource-driven economies are highly vulnerable to commodity price mutability. The new measures of wealth deployed here offer more hope for the future in these countries than they themselves would once have allowed for.

The Qattara Depression is part of the Northwestern Desert in Egypt and is home to the second lowest point in Africa at -133 meters below sea level. Therefore, before any projects can be carried out in this area, we must first understand the geology of the land. The present study deals with the high-resolution sequence stratigraphic analysis of the Lower Miocene Moghra Formation outcrops in the Qattara Depression Region. The literature on the sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the Moghra Formation has been sparse to date, despite some excellent work over the years by academic and petroleum workers. Moreover, the area studied is within what was once a front-line of World War II, where mine fields and war relics are scattered and cover wide reaches. This has resulted in limited geologic mapping in the past. Thus, great attention is paid in this study to establishing a robust sedimentology and high-resolution sequence stratigraphic framework for the Lower Miocene Moghra Formation. Included are works based on outcrops and, most importantly, new sedimentological and chronostratigraphic information not previously available.

One of the early set of reforms that South Africa embarked on after emerging from apartheid was in the water sector, following a remarkable, consultative process. The policy and legal reforms were comprehensive and covered almost all aspects of water management including revolutionary changes in defining and allocating rights to water, radical reforms in water management and supply institutions, the introduction of the protection of environmental flows, and major shifts in charging for water use and in the provision of free basic water. Over ten years of implementation of these policy and legislative changes mean that valu-able lessons have already been learned and useful experiences gained in the challenge of effective water resources management and water services provision in a middle income country.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First EurAsian Conference on Information and Communication Technology, EurAsia-ICT 2002, held in Shiraz, Iran, in October 2002. The 116 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from more than 300 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on artificial intelligence, data mining, multimedia, security, neural networks, data and knowledge engineering, XML, mobile communication, computer graphics, digital libraries, natural language processing, Internet and QoS, information society, e-learning, mobile Web information systems, wireless communications, Web-based applications, intelligent agents, real-time sytems, software engineering, algorithms, and theoretical computer science.

Proposed Formation of an Arab Union (AU) Modeled on European Union (EU) Awakens and Advances the Arab World Region and population as it did EU

"By the end of the World War II (1945), drastic changes occurred in world political and economic order. The world nations' concept of old style colonialism and super nationalism, which were practiced prior to the war were completely discarded;replaced by a new geopolitical and economic world order. Great emphasis and concern were also directed on how nations can fix the already war damaged pre- and post-war world economy by shifting their effort toward the revival and development of their prewar and postwar techno- economic status. This same R&D-based techno-economic approach was joined by many other already or newly independent nations such as the Pacific Ridge Countries and by the huge lands and massive populations of: Brazil, Russia, India and China. The plan yielded them the recently acquired advanced or merging naion's status. Contrary to these groups, many other nations/regions fail to pursue the same advanced plan; remaining as they were, suffering non-developed status. This chapter deals with the proposal: "how to change the status of those from developing to that of advance developed nations/regions status by following and rigidly implementing advanced nations' techno-economic plan. The proposal utilizes the establishment of the proposed Arab Union modeled on European Union as an example, illustrating the process; also how the proposed plan - the proposal - was generalized to cover other would-be cases that are determined and have the willing power to make the conversion move from poor, developing to that of rich, advanced status."

Contributors to this issue of Nka complicate the key paradigms that have shaped the theories and cultural productions of the African diaspora by offering a critical and nuanced analysis of global black consciousness. Literary scholars, historians, visual art critics, and diaspora theorists explore the confluence between theories of African diaspora and theories of decolonization. They examine the intersections of visual art, literature, film, and other cultural productions alongside the crosscurrents that shaped the transnational flow of black consciousness. The contributors revisit major black and Pan-African intellectual movements and festivals in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Dakar Festival of World Negro Arts held in Dakar in 1966, the Pan-African Cultural Festival in 1969 in Algiers, and FESTAC 1977 in Lagos, Nigeria. Throughout this issue, the contributors examine both the problem and promise of mobilizing "blackness" as a unifying concept. Contributors: Hisham Aidi, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Ahmed Bedjaoui, Margo Natalie Crawford, Romi Crawford, Lydie Diakhate, Manthia Diawara, Amanda Gilvin, Salah M. Hassan, Shannen Hill, Tsitsi Jaji, Barbara Murray, Zita Nunes, Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, Richard J. Powell, Holiday Powers, Shana L. Redmond, Penny M. Von Eschen, Dagmawi Woubshet

The ongoing conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur has received unprecedented attention from the international media and human rights organizations, and it has captured the attention of millions of people around the world. Those seeking to learn about the conflict, as well as those who have reported on it, often rely on information produced by the various organizations that are addressing the humanitarian crises spawned by the conflict. In turn, most coverage of the Darfur crisis provides only a cursory understanding of the historical, economic, political, sociological, and environmental factors that contribute to the conflict. Moreover, the perspectives of the people of Darfur and the Sudan have not been adequately heard. As a result, Sudanese civil society's active engagement in resolving the country's problems goes unrecognized.

Darfur and the Crisis of Governance in Sudan remedies this situation by bringing together a diverse group of contributors from Sudan and beyond scholars, activists, NGO and aid workers, members of government and the Darfurian rebel movements, and artists who share a deep knowledge of the situation in Darfur and Sudan. Together, they provide the most comprehensive, balanced, and nuanced account yet published of the conflict's roots and the contemporary realities that shape the experiences of those living in the region. The cross-disciplinary dialogue fostered by Salah M. Hassan and Carina E. Ray yields a comprehensive understanding of the causes, manifestations, and implications of the ongoing conflict.

Many of the contributors emphasize that despite the international attention Darfur has received, it is those within Darfur and Sudan both in preexisting organizations and in newly formed alliances who have taken the lead in seeking local solutions. This book features a portfolio of affecting full-color photographs of daily life in Darfur by the acclaimed photographer Issam A. Abdelhafiez and, significantly, an extensive appendix of official local and international documents about the conflict laws, decrees, resolutions, reports, and governmental statements that have shaped both the crisis and its global perception. Collected here for the first time, these documents are invaluable as primary sources for researchers, students, activists, NGOs, and anyone else trying to understand the complexities of the crisis.

Contributors: Issam A. Abdel Hafiez; Musa Adam Abdul-Jalil; Abaker Mohamed Abuelbashar; Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf; Eric Kofi Acree; Ali B. Ali Dinar; Munzoul A.M. Assal; Alex de Waal; Atta El-Battahani; Kamal El-Gizouli; Abdel Monim Elgak; Abdullahi Osman El-Tom; Grant Farred; Adrienne Fricke; Fahima A. Hashim; Salah M. Hassan; Amira Khair; Mansour Khalid; Mahmood Mamdani; Carina E. Ray; Karin Willemse; Benaiah Yongo-Bure; Al-Tayib Zain Al-Abdin"