Space-Related Applications of Intelligent Control: Which Algorithm to Choose? (Theoretical Analysis of the Problem)

For a space mission to be successful it is vitally important to have a good control strategy. For example, with the Space Shuttle it is necessary to guarantee the success and smoothness of docking, the smoothness and fuel efficiency of trajectory control, etc. For an automated planetary mission it is important to control the spacecraft's trajectory, and after that, to control the planetary rover so that it would be operable for the longest possible period of time. In many complicated control situations, traditional methods of control theory are difficult or even impossible to apply. In general, in uncertain situations, where no routine methods are directly applicable, we must rely on the creativity and skill of the human operators. In order to simulate these experts, an intelligent control methodology must be developed. The research objectives of this project were: to analyze existing control techniques; to find out which of these techniques is the best with respect to the basic optimality criteria (stability, smoothness, robustness); and, if for some problems, none of the existing techniques is satisfactory, to design new, better intelligent control techniques

Designing a Social Architecture for Personal Leadership in the 21st Century: The Autonomous Realization Tetrad (ART)

Rather than summarizing the extent of my learning as a graduate student in the University of Massachusetts Boston Critical and Creative Thinking Master of Arts Program, this work instead illustrates a starting point for how I intend to apply my learning moving forward. Various characteristics in the writing do, however, reflect influences from all CCT courses taken. Primarily using personal narrative, I discuss various personal and professional experiences which have inspired self-developed creative methodologies. The methodologies, and learning derived from using them, are folded into an inquiry regarding Futures Studies, Systems Thinking, Design Thinking, Mastery, and Flow. Inspired by these disciplines along with the Creativity matrix, I then synthesize what is termed as The Autonomous Realization Tetrad (ART) - a social architecture synthesis inspired by Futures Studies, Systems Thinking, Design Thinking, Cognitive Psychology, and Human Creative Potential. The ART social architecture seeks to consciously nurture a generative field which encourages a range of co-creative social behaviors beneficial to the realization of a visualized, desired outcome, from an economy of means. The writing closes with an indication of proposed Next Steps for the further evolution of ART, as well as Concluding Thoughts

The Empirical Development of a Preparation for Marriage Curriculum for Twelfth-Grade Students

Problem. The purpose of this project was to develop an instructional product that would enrich the student\u27s knowledge about dating and marriage, and teach specific relational skills. Method. A systematic procedure was undertaken in the development and validation of the product. First, the content of a pre-marriage course was identified through an examination of a large sample of family-life texts, a survey of teacher criticisms and recommendations pertaining to the text Marriage (Christensen, 1980), and an analysis of a group of 317 youth using the Search Institute instrument, Youth Research Survey (Strommen, 1977; see appendix E). Second, the proposed content subjects were divided into instructional units, arranged in a logical sequence, and introduced with behavioral objectives. Third, literature and research in the various unit content areas was reviewed and a prototype of the pre-marriage curriculum drafted. This prototype curriculum was taught to thirty-two seniors in a parochial academy in Hagerstown, Maryland. Validation of the instructional units was considered successful when 80 percent of the students achieved 80 percent mastery in each objective. Twenty four percent of the objectives failed to reach this level. Fourth, each of the instructional units were expanded, weaknesses exposed during the tryout stage were corrected, and a teacher\u27s manual was prepared. Finally, the instructional product was taught to class of seventeen twelfth-grade students at a parochial academy, Battle Creek, Michigan. Results. The instructional product met the validation criterion-- 80 percent of the students fulfilled each objective at or above the 80 percent mastery level. Conclusions. It was concluded that the instructional product was successful and, with some modification, ready for further use as an enrichment resource for pre-marriage courses. It was recommended that further systematic revision of the product take place based on student performance

An analysis of the inability of the provisional government to prevent the Bolshevik seizure of power and the failure of Kerensky's coalition politics in 1917

This thesis examines the weaknesses of the Provisional Government and Kerensky's coalition politics. It is argued that a teleological deterministic view of Russian history must be laid aside if the study is to progress. It is shown that whilst Provisional Government policies were not successful on the key issues of bread, land and peace, these issues were not resolvable in the short term, and the Bolshevik promise of bread was fallacious. On the question of peace, however, the Provisional Government failed to recognise Russia’s need for peace, and consequently failed to prioritise Russia's withdrawal from the war, which was a major factor in the Provisional Government's inability to win widespread support. It is shown that the war was a financial and logistic crisis for the Provisional Government. There was an implicit contradiction in the soldiers' desires to retain their new rights and freedoms, and the desire of senior command to restore order in the army. The position of the Petrograd workers was crippled by the failure of moderation and legitimate means to improve workers living conditions. As a result, 1917 saw a definitive move to the left in the workers' movement. The three moderate political parties all lacked a firm party organisation and discipline, and had no experience of coalition politics. The two socialist parties were unable to reconcile their differences constructively, and allowed personal enmity to interfere with political life in 1917. The SR-Menshevik alliance had the potential to prevent the Bolsheviks from gaining control of the Soviets, and combined the popular support of the SR's with the mature leadership of the Mensheviks. Although Miliukov and the Kadets had the greatest political experience, they handicapped the coalition because they would not accept radical social change. Assessment of the role of Alexander Kerensky in die events of 1917 shows that much of the criticism he has faced is unjust, and that he acquitted himself well in 1917

Role of the United States Agricultural Teacher Education Profession in International Agriculture and Rural Development.

Purpose. The primary goal of this study was to answer the question: What has been the contribution of the United States agricultural teacher education profession to the international development process? The study, therefore, was a synthesis of past involvement of agricultural teacher educators in international agriculture and rural improvement activities since 1950. Population. The population of this study consisted of 117 agricultural teacher educators in the United States with at least .51 FTE responsibilities in teacher education programs and experience in international development acitivites abroad. Objectives. Eight specific objectives of the study were the identification of (1) primary goals of international projects, (2) exact activities of the educators, (3) other experts who co-worked with them, (4) their specific accomplishments, (5) major problems they encountered, and (6) future role of their profession in international development, and the solicitation of (7) recommendations for solving problems of agriculture in developing countries, and (8) advice for successful assignments abroad. Methods. A census survey was conducted. Data were collected using a mailed questionnaire. Respondents recorded their responses on cassette tapes. Responses were transcribed, analyzed, and synthesized by commonality of each of the objectives of the study. Findings. More than 90 agricultural teacher educators have been involved in over 230 separate foreign assignments since 1952. They served in 78 countries world-wide. Their activities were funded by different governmental, international, and private agencies. Project goals were varied and ranged from institution-building to trade promotion. Consequently, activities of these educators differed greatly, for example, institutions were built, programs established, and agriculture teachers trained. More than 120 different experts representing at least seven occupational clusters co-worked with agricultural teacher educators who were on foreign assignments. These educators encountered several major problems on their assignments. These included bureaucratic red-tape, goals-need conflicts, and culture shock. Teacher educators reported several tangible and personal accomplishments. They also suggested a variety of roles for their profession in future international development activities. Educators also made recommendations to host governments and aid donors for solving problems in international agriculture. Finally, educators provided advice on how to succeed as an international agricultural educator

Aspect and Meaning in the Russian Future Tense: Corpus and Experimental Investigations

This dissertation is a study of the Russian future tense within the framework of cognitive linguistics. In this dissertation I focus on the distribution of the perfective and imperfective future forms, their future and non-future meanings, and the use of the future tense verb forms by both native and non-native speakers. In the Russian tense-aspect system, it is reasonable to operate with markedness on a local level of tense, rather than the level of the verb. Via local markedness it is possible to see that the perfective future is the unmarked member of the opposition, and the imperfective future is the marked one. The perfective future tense forms are approximately fourteen times more frequent than imperfective future tense forms in the Russian National Corpus. Both perfective and imperfective future tense forms express not only future meanings but also gnomic, directive etc. The (non-)future meanings form a radial category with the future meaning as a prototype and other meanings as extensions. Native speakers operate with frequency when they use future tense forms. Non-native speakers are not sensitive to frequency, and instruction in the use of the future tense forms in Russian could be improved

WWW.Church: Consulting with 19th and 20th Century Congregations in a 21st Century World

A new pastor is called and excitement is high. Both the pastor and the congregation begin this journey with high hopes and expectations. Yet too often things get off track quickly and people are left wondering what happened and why aren\u27t things going in the direction we hoped? The problem comes from a failure to understand the unique nature of a faith community. Understanding the nature includes an understanding of the roles of and the relationship between values, vision and mission in charting a course to the future of their ministry together. This failure in understanding also presents itself when a congregation wants to continue effective mission and ministry and seeks to respond to the changes in their surrounding community. What is needed is a guided process to help in the transition that any congregation goes through with the arrival of a new pastor or when a congregation attempts to transition into ministry to the emerging culture. To address this problem, we propose a process by which pastor and people together may discover the basis for Christian community and common values. Through this process, they can develop a common unifying vision, one that will serve to bind them together in community. Once the common values and vision are identified, the third part of the process will focus on developing strategic planning which will guide the congregation in it ongoing mission. In chapter two, we present biblical materials, which show that congregations have unifying qualities and reasons for being. Then, in chapter three, we present materials from Christian history and thought that demonstrate the role of the apostle/church planter in developing community in the early church. In chapter four, we will examine the causes that lead to the reduction from five offices to one leading to the shift from an emphasis on mission and new community formation to a focus on maintenance with the acceptance of Christianity as the state religion in the western world. The fifth chapter will present materials from current research and thought which show that since the demise of Christendom congregations have been forced to recognize the need to return to a mission emphasis. Chapter six explores current research and thinking in the fields of biology, sociology, and psychology regarding the nature of bonding agents in community and social interactions (that is, what holds communities together). Then, in chapter seven, we present materials from research and thought in theology, which show other alternatives to congregational renewal and revitalization. Finally, we present our solution, which is a simple ongoing approach to recovering and reinstituting the biblical precepts underlying the nature and purpose of the church creating a vision for a positive future in the local congregation along with the tools to move the congregation into that future

Policies and Practice of Political Culture: Theory and Sustainabilty

The ideaof political culture has remained intuitively appealing as a framework for political explanation and assessment, despite a large body of compelling criticism that has accumulated since its introduction three decades ago. However, even recently, adherents of the political culture approach have been unsuccessfulto address the fundamental shortcomings of the concept and its application. This book has two goals. First, a thoroughanalytical critique is undertaken of a dominant strand of political culture theory, closely examining major formative works (e.g.Almond and Verba) as well as numerousrecent studies (e.g., Inglehart). Secondly, on the basis of this critique, a recasting of the concept is presented.The thesis underlying the examinationis that theoretical and methodological problems were built into the concept of political culture at the outset. The chief conceptual problems identified are that: 1) the conceptual melding of the broader culture with political culture has muddled the identification of causes and subverted the investigation of political structures and procedures; 2) the assumption of cultural continuity has left change to be explained only outside the model; and 3) the insistence upon national units of analysis has obscured the significanceof subnational political groupings. Major political trends in recent decades defy explanation in terms of the predictableapproach to political culture, forprominent subculturalcleavages and rapid changes in collectively held political attitudes imply not only important effects emanating from the functioning of politics itself, but also a lack of uniformity across subnational groupings. Political cultures are shaped, not of broader cultural forces, but of individual subjective perceptions gleaned from a limited variety and quantityof interactions with the structures and processes of politics. Theseperceptions produceexpectations, assumptions, choices, and incentives concerning the functioning of politics, all of which comprise political cultures. In this model, political cultures manifest themselves not in terms of national political cultures, butrather of political cultural subgroupings based on differentialperspectives on politics (e.g.socioeconomic, demographic, regional...). The book concludes with discussions of the model and of its implications for research

Developmental and personality differences between two groups of fathers

The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of the father's level of ego development, his level of self esteem, his marital adjustment and his perception of his role on his child. The sample population consisted of two groups of fathers with 27 subjects in each group. The experimental group was defined by having a child who had been seen in a clinic for emotional or behavioural difficulties and the control group by having a child who had never had m y therapy for emotional or behavioural difficulties. The groups were broadly matched on age of the index child, standard of the child at school, age of the father, marital status and language. The data was analysed using t-tests to compare the groups ? Pearson Product Moment Correlations to examine the relationship between variables and a Discriminant Analysis in order to look at the findings from a multivariate perspective. Using a significance level of 0.05 as the criterion for significance, there were no significant differences between the groups. However there were distinct differences between the two groups when the subject variables from the biographical questionnaire were analysed. The results were discussed in the light of the negative findings and an attempt was made to account for the paucity of significant results. Finally the limitations of the study and the implications for further research were considered