Hometown Heroes? Does Proximity To One's Home Affect Performance in Ontario University Athletics?

Every year, university coaches seek to recruit ‘talented’ athletes to add to their rosters with the aim of improving their team. Some coaches take considerable strides to recruit the best athletes from across their region, province and/or across the country. Among many issues to consider, recruited athletes must decide whether to attend schools of closer or farther proximity from their hometown. This study considered whether proximity, defined as the geographic distance between an institution and an individual’s hometown, influences Ontario student-athletes’ university selection and whether this variable influences team and/or individual performance. Data from the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) were collected between 2009 and 2013 (1764 female athletes and 1873 male athletes). Results indicated that athletes were more likely to attend universities greater than 80km from home. However, athletes who attended local universities were more successful and teams comprised of local athletes were more successful as well

British Sinai: its geopolitical significance in the middle east and its strategic role in British colonial policy

The focus of this thesis is to assess the strategic role and geopolitical significance of the Sinai peninsula in the Middle East in general and its importance for British colonial policy in particular. As Egypt became progressively more autonomous from the Ottoman Empire during the nineteenth century the question of territorial sovereignty arose, which moved the Sinai Peninsula from being a barren stretch of desert’ with little economic value within the Ottoman Empire to becoming a disputed boundary region. The construction of the Suez Canal and its subsequent control by European powers, headed by Britain, further highlighted its strategic position. This led to a series of successful diplomatic efforts on the side of Britain, which had occupied Egypt by 1882, to include the peninsula within the boundaries of Egypt. After the military confrontation with Turkey during the First World War, and the subsequent breaking up of the Ottoman Empire, an international boundary separating Sinai from Palestine was established. Egypt became officially independent in 1922. However British control of the Sinai Peninsula continued until well after the Second World War. This thesis demonstrates the importance of Sinai for British colonial policy, which was reflected in the great efforts exerted to retain control of the peninsula as long as possible. The recognition of this importance was not shared by the nationalist Egyptian government. Thus Britain is to be credited for having pursued vital diplomacy to establish a recognized international boundary, as well as creating an effective administration system to control this remote border desert area in the form of the Frontiers Districts Administration (FDA), founded in 1917. The "reserved clauses" in the unilateral declaration of independence of 1922 gave Britain the right to provide for the defense of Egypt, which would mean that the Egyptian Army would remain under the control of British officers. The primary vehicle for government in the Sinai was the Frontiers Districts Administration, a department of the Ministry of War. This made it convenient for Britain to remain in charge of the peninsula by means of a British officer serving as governor of Sinai. This thesis shows that as the number of British personnel employed in the Egyptian government was drastically reduced after independence, Britain pursued a covert policy to retain as many Englishmen as possible in the FDA, for the purpose of continued control over Sinai. Even after the Second World War no efforts were spared to try to retain Sinai under British control, which became a central issue in the dispute between Britain and Egypt over the latter's independence and national sovereignty

Opportunistic Secrecy with a Strict Delay Constraint

We investigate the delay limited secrecy capacity of the flat fading channel under two different assumptions on the available transmitter channel state information (CSI). The first scenario assumes perfect prior knowledge of both the main and eavesdropper channel gains. Here, upper and lower bounds on the delay limited secrecy capacity are derived, and shown to be tight in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime. In the second scenario, only the main channel CSI is assumed to be available at the transmitter where, remarkably, we establish the achievability of a non-zero delay-limited secure rate, for a wide class of channel distributions, with a high probability. In the two cases, our achievability arguments are based on a novel two-stage key-sharing approach that overcomes the secrecy outage phenomenon observed in earlier works.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Information Theor

SELECTION OF BEST SITES FOR AQUIFER STORAGE AND RECOVERY IN THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF ABU DHABI EMIRATE, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The Emirate of Abu Dhabi relied on groundwater as the main source of fresh water for several decades in the past. This resulted in the deterioration of the non-renewable groundwater aquifers; and thus, desalination plants have become the major source of freshwater supply in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Diminishing natural groundwater is a serious threat to freshwater security in arid regions. Because UAE has the world’s highest per capita water consumption rate, more than 70 desalination plants have been built in the last two decades. A major concern, therefore, is the vulnerability of these desalination plants to pollution and emergency conditions. In emergency conditions, the maximum amount of stored water in reservoirs and distribution systems will be enough for only 48 hours. Currently, the production of these plants exceeds national water demand and the surplus is used to recharge groundwater in specific locations. While production of desalination plants is constant, demand is continuously increasing and soon will exceed production, and then new plants will be needed. This would require investments of billions of Dirhams; not to mention the effect of these plants on the environment. In other words, the construction of new desalination plants cannot continue forever. The main aim of this thesis will be on increasing strategic water reserves in the Eastern District of Abu Dhabi by selecting the best locations for Aquifer Storage & Recovery (ASR). A limiting factor in applying ASR technology is the lack of suitable sites. Finding the best locations for artificial recharge is one of the crucial design steps. ASR technology offers an opportunity to store large volumes of water for later beneficial use. The artificial aquifer recharge with water for a variety of applications has been successfully used worldwide. There is a range of methods used to recharge aquifers, including infiltration systems and injection wells. The choice of method depends on the type of aquifer, land area available, and intended uses of the recovered water. Upon completion, this study would enhance water management in the Al-Ain region to build a backup reservoir to face potential threats of shortage in freshwater supply from desalination plants. Many hydrogeological factors need to be considered during the site selection process for ASR projects. These factors will be considered to assess the hydrological feasibility includes identifications of the best geological layers to receive the injected water. This work will provide a feasibility study of implementing managed aquifer recharge projects in the Al-Ain region, to increase the groundwater storage in suitable sites in the Al-Ain region and modeling the groundwater aquifers and the feasibility to extract water from an aquifer to satisfy critical needs if a reserve had been established through the implementation of an ASR program

Biomechanical understanding of blow-out fractures: A finite element study

Blow-out fractures are one of the most common fractures in maxillofacial trauma. Two mechanisms are thought to cause these fractures, the buckling mechanism and hydraulic mechanism. This study aims to compare between the two mechanisms in terms of intensity and extension using the finite elements method. Three-dimensional model was generated using computed tomography data of young male patient. Virtual loads were applied on the infra-orbital rim and the eyeball separately. Von Mises stress and equivalent elastic strain were examined in each simulation. The simulation predicted fractures on the infra-orbital rim and orbital floor when simulating the buckling mechanism, and on the orbital floor and mesial wall when simulating the hydraulic mechanism. Biomechanical studies are essential in understanding maxillofacial fractures mechanisms. Our results ascertained and confirmed what is seen clinically and explained the two mechanisms of blow-out fractures

In search of appropriate architecture : a jamat khana in Hunza, Pakistan

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1989.Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-133).In today's world of technological advancement, communication has become easier than ever before. This, along with its benefits, has inflicted severe blows to architecture in developing nations. Concepts have been imitated and technologies transposed without any concern or regard for appropriateness. Changes have been accepted without a care for the past and without any sense of future direction. This indifferent attitude is proving detrimental to the future built environment of Third World countries. Hunza, a region located in the north of Pakistan and untouched until the last few years, is facing new challenges because of increased communication not only with developed parts of the country, but also with the rest of the world. Its natural beauty and difficult mountain terrain has attracted people from all over the world by way of the newly built Karakoram highway. In this hazy mist of change in Hunza, the local architecture is being severely affected. People are using new building materials in their own way of construction without any fear or concern. A search to establish a comprehensive base for an appropriate architecture in the spirit of Hunza is beyond the scope of this thesis, but an attempt has been made in my own way to discover an architecture responding to current needs and using appropriate materials, while keeping in sight Hunza's history, tradition and culture which the faith of the locals, Islam, demands. This thesis addresses these issues by using the design of a jamat khana in the village of Karimabad, Hunza, as a vehicle. A community building of this significance may help in providing a forum for local builders, masons and craftsmen where they can revitalize their traditional ideas and search for appropriate solutions -- whatever the need be.by Khalil Karim Pirani.M.Arch

On the Delay Limited Secrecy Capacity of Fading Channels

In this paper, the delay limited secrecy capacity of the flat fading channel is investigated under two different assumptions on the available transmitter channel state information (CSI). The first scenario assumes perfect prior knowledge of both the main and eavesdropper channel gains. Here, upper and lower bounds on the secure delay limited capacity are derived and shown to be tight in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime (for a wide class of channel distributions). In the second scenario, only the main channel CSI is assumed to be available at the transmitter. Remarkably, under this assumption, we establish the achievability of non-zero secure rate (for a wide class of channel distributions) under a strict delay constraint. In the two cases, our achievability arguments are based on a novel two-stage approach that overcomes the secrecy outage phenomenon observed in earlier works.Comment: Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT 2009), Seoul, Korea, June 28-July 3, 200