The Prospect of Democracy: China’s Possibility of Political Reform

What factors help or hinder democratization in China? Democracy in China is not an unknown term, but the difficulty of making “democratic” reforms in China has raised the question of if China will democratize. This literature review and analysis will examine the factors, which help or hinder democratization in China through economic and cultural means. By using a literature review as well as reviewing the concepts of democracy and prerequisites thereof, three scenarios for democratization will be determined. Through the use of the information provided in the latter, I predict that while democracy is possible in China, the state will not reform in the next 5 years by any means. This is due to various factors including increased economic development and the use of “Asian Values.

A constant force bicycle transmission

A prototype design for a human powered automatic transmission intended for use on an ordinary touring bicycle is presented. The transmission is intended to automatically adjust the gearing of the bicycle to maintain an optimum pedal force, regardless of the current riding conditions. Therefore, the transmission eliminates the need for the cyclist to manually adjust the bicycle gearing. The entire transmission is a self-contained unit designed to bolt onto the rear wheel of an otherwise unmodified 27-inch bicycle. The transmission combines a unique adaptation of a commercially popular continuously variable traction drive with a totally mechanical integral feedback controller. The features of the traction drive unique to its application to a bicycle are outlined in detail, along with an analysis of the important traction drive design parameters. The control system is also uniquely adapted to the requirements of bicycling. A detailed classical analysis of the controller is presented to verify its desirable performance characteristics. In addition, a numerical simulation of the transmission is included to accurately predict its performance under typical operating conditions. A knowledge of typical pedal force profiles for normal touring cycling is prerequisite for the design of the constant force bicycle transmission. This data has not been previously published. An instrumentation package was developed especially to determine this data. A description of the system and a summary of the results are presented. These results are reduced to a set of design criteria for the constant force transmission

Flight Testing Small UAVs for Aerodynamic Parameter Estimation

A flight data acquisition system was developed to aid unmanned vehicle designers in verifying the vehicle\u27s design performance. The system is reconfigurable and allows the designer to choose the correct combination of complexity, risk, and cost for a given flight test. The designer can also reconfigure the system to meet packaging and integration requirements. System functionality, repeatbility, and accuracy was validated by collecting data during multiple flights of a radio-controlled aircraft. Future work includes sensor fusion, thrust prediction methods, stability and control derivative estimation, and growing Cal Poly\u27s small-scale component aerodynamic database

A diachronic semantic classification of the English religious lexis

Summary available: p.

Role of historical land-cover changes as a mechanism for global and regional climate change

Spring 1999.Also issued as author's dissertation (Ph.D.) -- Colorado State University, 1999.Includes bibliographical references.This paper describes the results from several modeling studies and an observational analysis as to the effect of historical land-cover change on regional and global climates. We discuss methods for determining historical vegetation change and present results from model simulations at the global and regional scale which compare climates generated using currently observed vegetation versus natural vegetation as a boundary condition. We also compare these modeling studies with recent observational data and with simulations of climate change resulting from increased greenhouse gases. We conclude from this research that vegetation change, as it has already occurred, globally and regionally, can have significant effects on both global and regional climates. These effects are not limited to the regions of direct land-cover change forcing. For example, as a result of tropical deforestation, the position and intensity of the ITCZ is affected by the change in land surface characteristics resulting in global-scale effects which are similar in nature to the climatic effects associated with El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). These include changes in high-latitude circulations, the generation of low frequency waves which appear to propagate to the extratropic s in well-defined teleconnection patterns, and reduced low-level easterlies over most of the tropical Pacific basin under current vegetation. This implies an interaction mechanism between tropical deforestation and ENSO. The model simulations of climate change due to landcover change compare favorably in spatial pattern and amplitude with recently observed temperature trends. Additionally, a comparison between simulations of climate changes due to landcover disturbance and changes due to rising atmospheric CO2 concentration show that global land-cover changes, as they have already occurred, are responsible for shifts in climate which are of similar amplitude and occur in the same regions as simulated climate changes resulting from increased CO2. A comparison of three independent observational datasets shows strong disagreement not only in the sign of recent globally-averaged temperature trends but also disagree as to regions where significant climate shifts are occurring. Unlike model simulations of greenhouse gas warming, warm anomalies do not occur preferentially over land during t his period and do not increase with height in the tropics.Sponsored by NPS contracts CA 1268-2-9004 and COLR-R92-0204; USGS contract 99CR-AG0005 and SA 9005CS0014; and NASA grant NAG8-1511

Role of historical land-cover changes as a mechanism for global and regional climate change, The

1999 Spring.Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-117).This paper describes the results from several modeling studies and an observational analysis as to the effect of historical land-cover change on regional and global climates. We discuss methods for determining historical vegetation change and present results from model simulations at the global and regional scale which compare climates generated using currently observed vegetation versus natural vegetation as a boundary condition. We also compare these modeling studies with recent observational data and with simulations of climate change resulting from increased greenhouse gases. We conclude from this research that vegetation change, as it has already occurred, globally and regionally, can have significant effects on both global and regional climates. These effects are not limited to the regions of direct land-cover change forcing. For example, as a result of tropical deforestation, the position and intensity of the ITCZ is affected by the change in land surface characteristics resulting in global-scale effects which are similar in nature to the climatic effects associated with El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). These include changes in high-latitude circulations, the generation of low frequency waves which appear to propagate to the extratropics in well-defined teleconnection patterns, and reduced low-level easterlies over most of the topical Pacific basin under current vegetation. This implies an interaction mechanism between tropical deforestation and ENSO. The model simulations of climate change due to land-cover change compare favorably in spatial patterns and amplitude with recently observed temperature trends. Additionally, a comparison between simulations of climate changes due to land-cover disturbance and changes due to rising atmospheric CO2 concentration show that global land-cover changes as they have already occurred, are responsible for shifts in climate which are of similar amplitude and occur in the same regions as simulated climate changes resulting from increased CO2. A comparison of three independent observational datasets shows strong disagreement not only in the sign of recent globally-averaged temperature trends but also disagree as to regions where significant climate shifts are occurring. Unlike model simulations of greenhouse gas warming, warm anomalies do not occur preferentially over land during this period and do not increase with height in the tropics

Diplodia Shoot Blight of Pines

Diplodia shoot blight, also known. as Diplodia tip blight or canker or Sphaeropsis blight, can be a particularly damaging disease of Austrian, ponderosa, and Scotch pines, as well as other pine and evergreen species. The disease is caused by a fungus, Sphaeropsis sapinea (syn. Diplodia pinea). Extensive damage may occur on trees chronically stressed by being grown outside their natural range. Although pine trees of all ages are susceptible to the disease, damage is most severe in older trees. Severe damage seldom occurs in trees not yet bearing cones. Numerous or repeated infection with Diplodia shoot blight can lead to stunting, deformed growth, and, eventually, death of the tree

Chart a Clear Course: Evaluation Is Key to Building Better, More Relevant Learning

When we engage in professional learning, we do it for one big reason: to get better at supporting students. Rigorous and thoughtful program evaluations can provide the critical connection between well-designed programs or initiatives and continuous improvement that builds essential knowledge and skills for educators. Evaluation helps us examine what has been accomplished in a professional learning initiative and identify course corrections that can help the initiative improve