A cybernetic perspective on policy-making and planning in local government

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis explores some of the central problems confronting policymakers and planners in local government. These problems are seen to stem from a view of planning which is characterised as top-down. Previous attempts to apply cybernetic ideas to these problems - characterised as the 'systems approach' - have failed partly on account of their failure to question this view. Cybernetics, it is argued, offers a fundamentally different perspective on planning, which emphasises the importance of processes, whereby the plans and policies of different organisations are mutually adjusted to each other - from the bottom up. The dynamics of this process are examined and cybernetics, most notably the work of Ashby, is shown to offer a number of insights into how it can be facilitated. Such a radical re-assessment of the nature of planning requires, at the same time, a much wider conception of the role of policy. Policies, it is suggested, are all too often thought of as purely prescriptive. A policy framework must instead be regarded as incorporating also a complex hierarchy of values, aims, goals and objectives, whose inter-relationships can be compared to that between the various components of a body of scientific knowledge. Such a perspective on planning and policy-making points towards a novel conception of government. Instead of imposing order from above, its primary function would become that of facilitating and encouraging the mutual adjustment process and collaboration between local organisations

Applying Multi-Resolution Stochastic Modeling to Individual Tennis Points

Individual tennis points evolve over time and space, as each of the two opposing players are constantly reacting and positioning themselves in response to strikes of the ball. However, these reactions are diminished into simple tally statistics such as the amount of winners or unforced errors a player has. In this thesis, a new way is proposed to evaluate how an individual tennis point is evolving, by measuring how much a player can expect each shot to contribute to a won point, given who struck the shot and where both players are located. This measurement, named ``Expected Shot Win Rate (ESWR), derives from stochastically modeling each shot of individual tennis points. The modeling will take place on multiple resolutions, differentiating between the continuous player movement and discrete events such as strikes occurring and duration of shots ending. Multi-resolution stochastic modeling allows for the incorporation of information-rich spatiotemporal player-tracking data, while allowing for computational tractability on large amounts of data. In addition to estimating ESWR, this methodology will be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of specific players, which will have the ability to guide a player\u27s in-match strategy

The Preparation And Characterization Of The Palladium(Ii) And Platinum(Ii) Chelates Of Three Cyclic Tertiary Amino Acids.

The purpose of this study was to prenare and characterize the palladium (II) and platinum (II) chelates of 1-pyrrolidineacetic acid, 1-piperidineacetic acid, and hexahydro-1-azepineacetic acid. The ligands were prepared by reacting the cyclic secondary arnines (pyrrolidine, piperidine, and hexahydroazepine) with sodium chloroacetate. The resulting cyclic tertiary amino acids were saponified and, finally, converted to the hydrochloride salts by neutralization with hydrochloric acid. The chelates were prepared by adding 1.0 millimole of K2PdC14 or K2PtC14 to a solution made by dissolving 2.0 Millimoles of amino acid hydrochloride in 25 ml. of water. The pH was adjusted to 7.4 and the solution was steam heated for an hour. That volume was reduced to 25 ml. by evaporation. Crystals began to form in one to three days and crystallization was complete in seven days. The products were not recrystallized since no appropriate solvents could be found. The six coordination compounds prepared are unreported in the literature. Elemental analyses, UV-visible spectra, and IR spectra were utilized to elucidate the structure of the coordination compounds. \u27l\u27he amino acids form chelates between the carboxyl and amine groups with the form: M(amino acid)2 . The three amino acids are believed to form square planar complexes with palladium and platinum. It is proposed that the six new compounds are: cis bis 1-pyrrolidineacetato palladium (II), cis bis 1-pyrrolidineacetato platinum (II), cis bis 1-piperidineacetato palladium (II) , cis bis 1-pioeridineacetato platinum (II), trans bis hexahydro-1-azepineacetato palladium (II) , trans bis hexahydro-1-azepineacetato platinum (II). The ionization constants of the three amino acids were determined using the poteniometric method of Albert and Sergeant. The ionization constants of 1-pyrrolidineacetic acid and hexahydro-1-azepineacetic acid are unreported in the literature. The stability constants of all six of the coordination compounds were determined using the method of Albert and Serqeant. This method involved the potentimletric titration of a solution 0.005 molar in K2PdCl4 or K2PtCl4 and 0.01 molar in amino acid hydrochloride with o.1N ootassium hydroxide at 25°C. The stability constants of the chelates differ only slightly with the ring structure of the amino acids under investigation. The stability constants of the palladium chelates are about 102 greater than the corresponding platinum chelate

Chlortetracycline and Sulfamethazine Supplementation for Feedlot Lambs

Antibiotic reed supplements have been extensively used in major livestock producing countries tor more than 15 years. In the United States, more than 1.25 million kg are used annually as diet supplements. The wide acceptance of antibiotics by livestock producers has been based on established benefits such as increased growth rate, improved reed conversion, and reduced mortality and morbidity from clinical and subclinical infections. Expenditures for antibiotics used as feed additives totaled $42 million in 1965 while the total spent for feed additives approached$142 million. It is evident that antibiotics make up a large part of the total reed additives used in livestock diets. A wide variety of antibacterial compounds have been used in diets tor nonruminant livestock and a number or these have also been tested for ruminant animals. Of these compounds, chlortetracycline has received more attention than other antibacterial agents in research with cattle and sheep. While the response to chlortetracycline additions has been favorable as computed across experiments, the response has been inconsistent in many experiments. To improve feedlot performance more consistently, combinations of antibacterials have been proposed to increase the effectiveness of antibacterial therapy. One of the combinations that has gained interest in recent years is that of chlortetracycline with sulfamethazine. Sulfamethazine by itself has not appeared to be effective as a feed additive in improving feedlot performance, but experimental evidence indicates that it improves the effectiveness of chlortetracycline when added in combination. The basis for this study was to more precisely delineate the responses to be expected when supplementing feedlot lambs with a high level of ohlortetracycl1ne, sulfamethazine, or the combination of both antibacterial agents under a variety of feedlot conditions and types of diets. Responses measured under these various regimes included average dally gain, feed utilization, death losses, adaptation time to various diets, general health and incidence of disease

Caddisflies (Trichoptera) of Wildcat Creek, Pickens County, South Carolina

Sixty-two species of caddisflies (Trichoptera) were identified from collections make from Wildcat Creek over a period of 33 years. A new distributional record for South Carolina was obtained for Diplectrona metaqui. Eight species, Polycentropus carlsoni, Wormaldia thyria, Neotrichia collata, Stactobiella delira, Neophylax atlanta, Goera fuscula, Pseudogoera singularis, and Agarodes griseus, are considered to be threatened in South Carolina

The Clustering Of Galaxies Around Radio-Loud AGNs

We examine the hypothesis that mergers and close encounters between galaxies can fuel AGNs by increasing the rate at which gas accretes towards the central black hole. We compare the clustering of galaxies around radio-loud AGNs with the clustering around a population of radio-quiet galaxies with similar masses, colors and luminosities. Our catalog contains 2178 elliptical radio galaxies with flux densities greater than 2.8 mJy at 1.4 GHz from the 6dFGS survey. We find that radio AGNs with more than 200 times the median radio power have, on average, more close (r<160 kpc) companions than their radio-quiet counterparts, suggestive that mergers play a role in forming the most powerful radio galaxies. For ellipticals of fixed stellar mass, the radio power is not a function of large-scale environment nor halo mass, consistent with the radio powers of ellipticals varying by orders of magnitude over billions of years.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Scientific Standards and the Regulation of Genetically Modified Insects

Experimental releases of genetically modified (GM) insects are reportedly being evaluated in various countries, including Brazil, the Cayman Islands (United Kingdom), France, Guatemala, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United States of America, and Vietnam. GM mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) have already been released for field trials into inhabited areas in the Cayman Islands (2009–?), Malaysia (2010–2011), and Brazil (2011–2012). Here, we assess the regulatory process in the first three countries permitting releases (Malaysia, US, and the Cayman Islands) in terms of pre-release transparency and scientific quality. We find that, despite 14 US government–funded field trials over the last 9 years (on a moth pest of cotton), there has been no scientific publication of experimental data, and in only two instances have permit applications been published. The world's first environmental impact statement (EIS) on GM insects, produced by US authorities in 2008, is found to be scientifically deficient on the basis that (1) most consideration of environmental risk is too generic to be scientifically meaningful; (2) it relies on unpublished data to establish central scientific points; and (3) of the approximately 170 scientific publications cited, the endorsement of the majority of novel transgenic approaches is based on just two laboratory studies in only one of the four species covered by the document. We find that it is not possible to determine from documents publically available prior to the start of releases if obvious hazards of the particular GM mosquitoes released in Malaysia, the Cayman Islands, and Brazil received expert examination. Simple regulatory measures are proposed that would build public confidence and stimulate the independent experimental studies that environmental risk assessments require. Finally, a checklist is provided to assist the general public, journalists, and lawmakers in determining, from documents issued by regulators prior to the start of releases, whether permit approval is likely to have a scientifically high quality basi