Technical Evaluation Report for Symposium AVT-147: Computational Uncertainty in Military Vehicle Design

The complexity of modern military systems, as well as the cost and difficulty associated with experimentally verifying system and subsystem design makes the use of high-fidelity based simulation a future alternative for design and development. The predictive ability of such simulations such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational structural mechanics (CSM) have matured significantly. However, for numerical simulations to be used with confidence in design and development, quantitative measures of uncertainty must be available. The AVT 147 Symposium has been established to compile state-of-the art methods of assessing computational uncertainty, to identify future research and development needs associated with these methods, and to present examples of how these needs are being addressed and how the methods are being applied. Papers were solicited that address uncertainty estimation associated with high fidelity, physics-based simulations. The solicitation included papers that identify sources of error and uncertainty in numerical simulation from either the industry perspective or from the disciplinary or cross-disciplinary research perspective. Examples of the industry perspective were to include how computational uncertainty methods are used to reduce system risk in various stages of design or development

The Role of Trust Perceptions and Propensity to Trust in Applicants' Experience of Recruitment and Selection

The role of organisational trustworthiness, propensity to trust and distrust was examined in the context of recruitment and selection. Specifically this research aimed to explore applicant experiences of selection as a context for trust. Because there has previously been little work looking systematically at the factorial and construct validity of propensity to trust this study also analysed responses to nine previously published propensity-to-trust scales using a combination of factor analytic, regression and content analyses. Findings supported the idea that propensity to trust scales are multidimensional and reflect aspects of both personality and experience of different trust contexts. The implication of this is that while use of propensity to trust is theoretically justified, checks on dimensionality should be carried out to account for different facets of this construct. The second study used the NEO propensity to trust scale (Costa & McCrae, 1985) as part of a survey looking into research degree applicant's experience of the recruitment and selection process during the post application and post interview stage. In addition to propensity to trust and propensity to distrust playing different role during attraction, influencing the decision of applicants to pursue a vacancy, propensity to distrust also appeared to regulate the relationship between selection justice, organisational trustworthiness and outcome intentions. Evidence from template analysis suggested ways in which justice and trust are manifested during the selection process, but based on a triangulated view, questions about what or whom applicants trust may need further examination and consideration in future research

Six degrees of early-stage ventures

Private markets investment volume and valuations exceed the level of the dot-com bubble (PwC and CBInsights, 2019). The available amount of capital surges as investors announce new multi-billion dollar funds (Kruppa, 2019). Even large, institutional funds in the Silicon Valley, who are used to investing in later stages, move upstream to invest in fledgling firms to achieve higher ownership and returns (Clark, 2019a). Despite the high private market liquidity, standing out from the crowd is critical and has become more difficult to achieve, even for innovative entrepreneurs (Planko et al., 2017). Curiously, venture capitalists who expect the latest technology and innovation from new ventures, did not themselves significantly innovate in their approach, including methods of evaluating ventures (Kupor, 2019). Few investors came up with new, differentiated investment strategies, one such example being data-driven investing (Pitchbook, 2018). Although venture capitalists seek to invest in firms which benefit substantially from the notion that “data is the new oil”, few practice to leverage data for their investment process (Parkins, 2017; Dance et al., 2018; Arroyo et al., 2019; Gompers et al., 2020). Instead, the overwhelming majority adheres to the motto “picking investments is an art, not science” and relies primarily on its networks as the most valuable resource (Bell, 2014; Huang and Pearce, 2015; Gompers et al., 2020). Venture capitalists’ focus on their social networks could not only negatively affect investment decisions and returns, but also promote group-think and stifle the progression of their investment thesis (Wuebker et al., 2015). Reviewing the previous works on entrepreneurship, venture evaluation, and venture capital revealed a significant gap in the literature. While investors and entrepreneurs depend heavily on their social networks, these networks play an insignificant role in venture evaluation. The existing frameworks are inadequate to accurately assess early-stage ventures and thus a rethink of methodology is needed to better capture the networked nature of today’s ventures (Miloud et al., 2012; Dusatkova and Zinecker, 2016). This thesis suggests a new perspective for early-stage venture evaluation, with particular focus on formalising the ventures’ social networks. Contributions made by this thesis are fourfold and relevant to entrepreneurs, investors, and academic theorists. Firstly, existing theories that explain venture fundraising success are expanded by adding a social network perspective. Secondly, this research provides a comprehensive overview of stakeholders’ roles and their constellation in social networks around the entrepreneurs and their ventures. Thirdly, for entrepreneurs, different modes of leveraging their social networks for critical business functions are identified. Lastly, an evaluation tool for venture capitalists to the investability of early-stage ventures is developed. In summary, results provide new insights into entrepreneurial strategies for leveraging social networks to enhance operations, differentiate from competitors, send positive signals to investors, and ultimately improve the venture’s assessment by the private market.EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTP

Perceived control and negative outcome expectancy as mediators of problem gamblers\u27 readiness to change and predictors of abstinence versus moderation as change goal.

The aim of the present study was to examine why some gamblers experience shifts in motivational readiness to change their gambling practices while others do not. This cross-sectional study of gamblers at different points across the spectrum of change attempted to extend the Addicted-self model of recovery to the study of problem gambling by examining the associations of perceived control and negative outcome expectancy with gamblers\u27 readiness to change. The present study also investigated the interaction of these two constructs in predicting gamblers\u27 choice of change goals. To facilitate this investigation, the present study sought to validate newly-developed measures of perceived control over gambling (PCOG) and negative gambling outcome expectancies (NGOE). Two hundred twenty eight community-dwelling problem gamblers were recruited for the study. Participants consisted of three subsets of gamblers: (i) gamblers in pre-contemplation, contemplation, and preparation, (ii) gamblers in action pursuing abstinence as their change goal, and (iii) gamblers in action pursuing moderation as their change goal. Abstainers were found to have the lowest perceived control over gambling and the highest negative gambling outcome expectancies compared to the other two groups. Moderators did not differ from pre-changers in perceived control or negative outcome expectancy. Both perceived control over gambling and negative gambling outcome expectancy predicted motivational readiness to change scores. Perceived control and negative outcome expectancy also mediated the relation between negative gambling consequences and motivational readiness to change. A structural equation model showed support for an addicted-self concept as an underlying latent construct mediating the behaviour change process. Clinical implications of perceived control over gambling and negative gambling outcome expectancy as targets for therapeutic interventions as well as useful indices for developing treatment-client matching guidelines are discussed.Dept. of Philosophy. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2005 .J49. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-11, Section: B, page: 6275. Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2005

Beyond 100: The Next Century in Geodesy

This open access book contains 30 peer-reviewed papers based on presentations at the 27th General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG). The meeting was held from July 8 to 18, 2019 in Montreal, Canada, with the theme being the celebration of the centennial of the establishment of the IUGG. The centennial was also a good opportunity to look forward to the next century, as reflected in the title of this volume. The papers in this volume represent a cross-section of present activity in geodesy, and highlight the future directions in the field as we begin the second century of the IUGG. During the meeting, the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) organized one Union Symposium, 6 IAG Symposia, 7 Joint Symposia with other associations, and 20 business meetings. In addition, IAG co-sponsored 8 Union Symposia and 15 Joint Symposia. In total, 3952 participants registered, 437 of them with IAG priority. In total, there were 234 symposia and 18 Workshops with 4580 presentations, of which 469 were in IAG-associated symposia. ; This volume will publish papers based on International Association of Geodesy (IAG) -related presentations made at the International Association of Geodesy at the 27th IUGG General Assembly, Montreal, July 2019. It will include papers associated with all of the IAG and joint symposia from the meeting, which span all aspects of modern geodesy, and linkages to earth and environmental sciences. It continues the long-running IAG Symposia Series

The impact of high quality relationships on proactive behaviour at work: evidence from independently owned hospitals in Ireland

The main aim of this study is to examine the impact of high quality relationships on proactive work behaviour. Although much research exists to suggest that job context influences proactive behaviour, less is known about the role of the social context, and in particular, the role of relationships in fostering proactivity. This study examines individual perceptions of positive relational experiences on individual proactive behaviour. Work engagement and hope were proposed as mediators of the pathway between subjective relational experiences and proactive behaviour. Using a cross level model, the role of high quality relationships within the work unit on individual proactive behaviour is also examined. Psychological safety climate was proposed as a mediator of this relationship. Finally, the impact of proactive behaviour on the job performance and quality of care delivered by individual nurses is assessed. Using a cross sectional survey design, multi-source data was collected from a representative sample of staff nurses and their respective managers drawn from four independently owned hospitals operating in Ireland. Results of multi-level regression analysis indicate that, at the individual level, subjective relational experiences are positively related to proactive behaviour. This relationship is mediated by hope but not by work engagement. At the unit level, results indicate that high quality relationships impact individual proactive behaviour indirectly via their impact on psychological safety climate. Proactive behaviour is also positively related to both job performance and quality of care. A major contribution of this study, among others, is that it provides empirical evidence of how and why high quality relationships engender a proactive approach to work. It also contributes to management practice within the independently owned hospital sector by making recommendations on how to develop a proactive workforce

Bayesian Methods for Animal Social Network Analysis

Over the last two decades, animal social network analysis has become central in the study of animal social systems. This methodology has given researchers a powerful set of tools to ask deep questions about the social structures of animals, and how these are linked to many other important biological processes. Animal social networks are often constructed from noisy, uncertain data, which would be well-suited to a Bayesian statistical philosophy. However, despite recent advances in Bayesian methodologies, they remain underutilised in animal social network analysis. In part this is due to unique features of animal network data that have led to the development and use of non-standard statistical procedures in the field. In this thesis I study some of the issues around existing methods, and highlight how a Bayesian methodology could substantially improve animal social network analyses. I introduce, implement, and explore a Bayesian framework for animal social network analysis. The framework makes it possible to conduct new types of analyses while accounting for both uncertainty and sampling biases. In addition to this, I have developed an R software package to allow researchers to use the new Bayesian framework to conduct animal social network analyses. The development of this framework raises new questions and opens up new opportunities in animal social network analysis, which I briefly explore towards the end of this thesis. I hope the developments made in this thesis will help to guide the future of animal social network analyses to make the most of hard-won network data, and to generate more reliable and insightful scientific inferences

The Physics of the B Factories

This work is on the Physics of the B Factories. Part A of this book contains a brief description of the SLAC and KEK B Factories as well as their detectors, BaBar and Belle, and data taking related issues. Part B discusses tools and methods used by the experiments in order to obtain results. The results themselves can be found in Part C

Socio-spatial segregation and the level of service of public transport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Brazilian urbanization model has been consolidated in such a way that most cities, and especially the Metropolitan regions, concentrate in their cores not only wealth but also services and the labour market . This results in very high densities. Contrary to this, peripheral areas concentrate poverty and lack of services. This results in lower densities. However these areas are the ones that have been presenting the highest growth rates. What effect does this land use pattern have in the transportation field? What kind of public investments have been made to cope with this spatial configuration of Brazilian urban areas? Is there any relationship between the distribution of the population and the quality of public services, amongst them transport? The aim of this research is to evaluate the public transport system in Rio de Janeiro, taking into account not only the segregation of activities such as housing and labour market but also the stratification of the population in economic and social terms to establish what level of service is provided for people in different income groups. Rio de Janeiro is taken as the best Brazilian example as public investments and market have not only determined where and how one would live, but have also shaped the city in such a way, that good access to facilities has been the privilege of a minority. Transport, as one of the most important public services, will be used as a tool to test the hypothesis that public services are unevenly distributed among different areas in the city and consequently among different population strata. The bus mode was selected for further investigation, as being the main mode of public transport in Rio de Janeiro. A survey was carried out among users within the system in 15 selected routes. The survey findings supported the hypothesis raised initially, and significant differences in attributes such as waiting, walking and in-vehicle times and also travel costs were observed between the core and peripheral householders. One of the greatest contributions of this research was regarding to the bus drivers working conditions. The quality of the services provided, independently from the spatial variable seems to be affected by the very poor working conditions of the crews. Although improvements in the transport system are necessary, they are not sufficient to solve the problem of commuters, unless significant changes also take place in the working conditions of the drivers

Dynamics of Rotors on Refrigerant-Lubricated Gas Foil Bearings

Die Technologie des Gasfolienlagers (GFB) zählt zu den Schlüsselfaktoren für den angestrebten Übergang zu ölfreien rotierenden Maschinen in zukünftigen Verkehrsmitteln. Neben zahlreichen Vorteilen hinsichtlich Größe, Gewicht, Effizienz und Sauberkeit bieten GFBs die einzigartige Möglichkeit einer Schmierung mit Arbeitsmedien wie Kältemitteln. Allerdings erweist sich die numerische Analyse kältemittelgeschmierter GFB-Rotor-Systeme als ein interdisziplinäres Problem von enormer Komplexität und mit Interessenkonflikten zwischen allumfassenden, aber effizienten Modellierungs- und Lösungsansätzen. In dieser Dissertation gelingt es, bisherige Machbarkeitsgrenzen auszuloten und zu überwinden, was eine neuartige Vorgehensweise zur Ermöglichung von Stabilitäts- und Bifurkationsanalysen eröffnet