It has been widely believed that modernity is a byproduct of a nuclear family system, a highly urbanized society, and a secular way of life. As such, developing countries are characterized as modern insofar as their social and cultural structures are able to correspond to these criteria. To examine the validity of these propositions, data on two randomly-selected generations--daughters and mothers in the United Arab Emirates--were generated.

This comparative study assesses the state of democracy and examines the process of democratization in the Arab World between the years 1980-1993. It addresses shortcomings in the mainstream democracy literature that excluded the Arab World from the global democratic revolution on political cultural grounds. To fulfil the objectives of this study, I employ both the qualitative and quantitative research approaches to test a number of hypothesized relationships. I hypothesize that transition to democracy is negatively associated with economic development, militarism, U.S. foreign policy, the political economy of oil, and dependency. I contend that emerging civil society institutions so far have had no significant effect on democratization in the Arab World. Finally, I hypothesize that the level of democracy in the Arab World is influenced greatly by the issue of civil rights. In order to investigate the hypothesized relationships, the following data sets have been used: Gastil's Freedom House Data set, "Repression and Freedom in the 1980s" data set, and Vanhanen's 1990 data set. The findings of this study support the aforementioned hypothesized relationships. I find that Arab countries, in general have made modest progress toward democracy, making the Arab World part of the global revolution.

The purpose of this study was to trace the development of education, including higher education, in the United Arab Emirates. In order to complete this study, a computer search of available literature in the English and Arabic languages was constructed. The findings of this study revealed that although education at all levels has been expanded and improved, enrollment in vocational education and science remains low at the secondary level. Students also seem to avoid science and education at the college level. Based on the results of this study, further research should be conducted to determine the perceptions of alumni educational experience, community involvement in education, the role of national and multi-national cooperations in education, and women's education in relation to their participation in the labor force.

Deficient productive capacity has not yet caused an oil crisis, but that does not mean it never will. Significant increases in world oil demand will have to be met primarily from Persian Gulf supplies. This is a region with a history of wars, illegal occupations, soups, revolutions, sabotage, terrorism, and oil embargoes. To these possibilities may be added growing Islamist movements with various antipathies to the West. If oil production were constrained, oil prices could rise abruptly along with adverse world economic repercussions. If the IEA and EIA are correct on the demand side, deficient world oil productive capacity could cause an oil crisis within 15 years and political disruptions in Saudi Arabia could cause one sooner. However, if the increases in world oil demand were more moderate, and there is long-term relative peace in the Middle East, with increasing foreign participation in upstream oil activities, a business as usual world oil demand and supply situation would be a likely scenario for much of the next century.

The distant view if of the southwest façade from the Arabian Gulf. The hotel was built on triangular man-made island 280 meters off shore.

View of the southeast facade is shown.

Panels of screen wall in their horizontal positions are visible in this raking view skyward.

A close view of the top of the hotel and the structural details are shown. The helipad and the sky view restaurant are also visible.

A main view of the facade and its surroundings are shown here. The curving upright trusses are visible. The helipad at the top is visible.

A close view of the upright trusses are shown of the southeast facade.

The exterior of the southeast facade is shown with its upright trusses.

Two sets of black towers situated at entrance of bridge periodically emit flames.

The view is of the bridge connecting the Burj al Arab island to the shore. The railings and balusters are shown.

The view is of the bridge connecting the hotel to the shore.

The main view of the facade from the vehicle entrance is shown. The helipad is visible at the top of the structure.

The view is of the man-made pilings to absorb wave action impact on the island.

The view shows a close detail of the concrete armor units that are for mitigating the effects of the waves on the island.

The entrance bay and fountain with the glass facade are shown in this view.

The exterior of the entrance bay and the rectangular granite surround are shown in this view.

The entrance bay is decorated with a series of marble balls, gold metallic posts and a glass facade.

The interior of the lobby with its patterned flooring and vivid colors is viewed from the top of the escalator.

The interior of the lobby is seen from the top of the water fountain.

The view is across the width of the lobby and includes a portion of the elliptical opening in the ceiling and the large shell shaped reception desk as well as the highly colorful and patterned carpeting.

A detail view of the ceiling and a three-dimensional open ellipse with a border of bright gold is shown.