Economic Performance in the Middle East and North Africa

The economies of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are in dire need of substantial institutional reform to improve their growth performance so as to create enough jobs for millions of entrants into their respective job markets, and to fight poverty and income inequality. This is necessary not only to reduce the risk of social unrest and domestic/regional conflicts, but also to assure stability of energy supply to the rest of the world and to hamper the violence originating from the region. So, the region's convergence to global standards of governance quality is desirable for increased prosperity and stability both in the region and outside. This volume contributes to the recently burgeoning political economy literature on institutions by putting together well-written chapters that empirically study the relationship between economic performance and institutional characteristics in MENA economies to point out some of the areas where institutional reform is particularly needed and possible tools to use for such reform. Perhaps one common lesson that can be derived from all chapters in the volume is that the both the region itself and the global economy will benefit from a MENA region that is better integrated to the rest.

Résumé
Giving you the first comprehensive presentation of the ground breaking research undertaken at Heriot Watt University, with Research Council and industrial funding, this book brings a new perspective to the design of building drainage and vent systems. It provides the building services community with clear and verifiable design methods that will be robust enough to meet challenges such as climate change and water conservation; population migration to the mega cities of the developing world, and the consequent pressures of user concentration; the rise of the prestige building and the introduction of new appliances and control strategies. These all combine to make traditional codified design guidance insufficient. Many assumptions in existing codes defining the entrained airflows within building drainage vent systems cannot be theoretically supported, so designers concerned with these systems need analysis and simulation capabilities which are at least as reliable as those enjoyed by other building services practitioners.The Method of Characteristics solution techniques which are well established in the pressure surge field are now used to provide solutions for drainage designers. The material is applied to a whole range of abstract scenarios then to a series of real world applications including the forensic modelling of the SARS virus spread within Amoy Gardens in 2003 and the refurbishment of the O2 Dome. Applications to specialised services, including underground station drainage and highly infectious disease treatment facilities are discussed and demonstrated, alongside the use of design and simulation techniques in support of product development.Aimed at both professional and academic users, this book serves both as a design aid and as a core text for specialist masters courses in public health and building services engineering.