Development of a pyrolysis waste recovery model with designs, test plans, and applications for space-based habitats

Extensive literature searches revealed the numerous advantages of using pyrolysis as a means of recovering usable resources from inedible plant biomass, paper, plastics, other polymers, and human waste. A possible design of a pyrolysis reactor with test plans and applications for use on a space-based habitat are proposed. The proposed system will accommodate the wastes generated by a four-person crew while requiring solar energy as the only power source. Waste materials will be collected and stored during the 15-day lunar darkness periods. Resource recovery will occur during the daylight periods. Usable gases such as methane and hydrogen and a solid char will be produced while reducing the mass and volume of the waste to almost infinitely small levels. The system will be operated economically, safely, and in a non-polluting manner

Non-Partisan 'Get-Out-the-Vote' Efforts and Policy Outcomes

This paper utilizes a simple model of redistributive politics with voter abstention to analyze the impact of nonpartisan ‘get-out-the-vote’ efforts on policy outcomes. Although such efforts are often promoted on the grounds that they provide the social benefit of increasing participation in the electoral process, we find that they have a meaningful impact on policy outcomes and are an important political influence activity for nonprofit advocacy organizations. In equilibrium, nonpartisan gotv efforts are more likely to arise in those segments of the electorate that are sufficiently small and disenfranchised (as measured by the ex ante voter abstention rate). Among those segments in which such efforts arise, the resulting gains are increasing in the level of disenfranchisement of the voters in the segment and decreasing in the segment’s size.get out the vote, redistributive politics, nonprofit advocacy organizations, Colonel Blotto Game, Tullock Game

Conflicts with Multiple Battlefields

This paper examines conflicts in which performance is measured by the players' success or failure in multiple component conflicts, commonly termed “battlefields”. In multi-battlefield conflicts, behavioral linkages across battlefields depend both on the technologies of conflict within each battlefield and the nature of economies or diseconomies in how battlefield out-comes and costs aggregate in determining payoffs in the overall conflict.conflict, contest, battlefield, Colonel Blotto Game, auction, lottery

The Effects of Recruitment Message Specificity on Applicant Attraction to Organizations

We used the elaboration likelihood model from marketing research to explain and examine how recruitment message specificity influences job seeker attraction to organizations. Using an experimental design and data from 171 college-level job seekers, the results showed that detailed recruitment messages led to enhanced perceptions of organization attributes and person-organization fit. Perceptions of fit were found to mediate the relationship between message specificity and intention to apply to the organization. In addition, perceptions of organization attributes and person-organization fit were found to influence intentions to apply under circumstances of explicit recruitment information while attractiveness and fit perceptions were shown to influence application intentions under conditions of implicit recruitment information. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed

Asymmetric Conflicts with Endogenous Dimensionality

This article examines a two-stage model of asymmetric conflict based on the classic Colonel Blotto game in which players have, in the first stage, the ability to increase the number of battlefields contested. It thereby endogenizes the “dimensionality” of conflict. In equilibrium, if the asymmetry in the players’ resource endowments exceeds a threshold, the weak player chooses to add battlefields, while the strong player never does. Adding battlefields spreads the strong player’s forces more thinly, increasing the incidence of favorable strategic mismatches for the weak player.Asymmetric Conflict, Multi-battle Conflict, Colonel Blotto Game, Stochastic Guerilla Warfare, Endogenous Dimensionality

The Attack and Defense of Weakest-Link Networks

This paper experimentally examines behavior in a two-player game of attack and defense of a weakest-link network of targets, in which the attacker’s objective is to successfully attack at least one target and the defender’s objective is diametrically opposed. We apply two benchmark contest success functions (CSFs): the auction CSF and the lottery CSF. Consistent with the theoretical prediction, under the auction CSF, attackers utilize a stochastic “guerilla warfare” strategy — in which a single random target is attacked — more than 80% of the time. Under the lottery CSF, attackers utilize the stochastic guerilla warfare strategy almost 45% of the time, contrary to the theoretical prediction of an equal allocation of forces across the targets.Colonel Blotto, conflict resolution, weakest-link, best-shot, multi-dimensional resource allocation, experiments

Suicide Terrorism and the Weakest Link

In this paper we examine a model of terrorism which focuses on the tradeoffs facing a terrorist organization that has the ability to utilize either or both suicide and conventional terrorism tactics. The terrorist organization’s objective is to successfully attack at least one target. Success for the target government is defined as defending all targets from any and all attacks. In this context, we examine how terrorist entities strategically utilize suicide attacks when other modes of attack are available, and the optimal anti-terrorism measures.conflict, suicide terrorism, weakest link, Colonel Blotto

African-American Students\u27 Perceptions of Their Experience in Continuation Schools

From a Critical Race Theory perspective (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995), this study examined the perceptions of experiences of African-American students enrolled in two different continuation high schools (a traditional continuation school and a non-traditional continuation with a residential component attached). This was done to measure success from the students\u27 point of view. Students who are at-risk of failing in the education system are often enrolled in alternative education programs, which is many times a last chance effort in helping them achieve academic success (EdSource, 2008a). These programs can be administered by a school district or by a private business. The most common alternative education programs are continuation schools, which focus on school-to-career education, individualized instructional strategies, intensive guidance and counseling, and flexible school schedules to meet student needs who are at-risk of not graduating. In California, in October 2008, there were 525 continuation high schools reporting an enrollment of 70,937 (California Department of Education (CDE), 2010c). Eleven percent of continuation high school attendees are African American (EdSource, 2008a), and the percentage of African-American students who attended public high schools in California in 2008–09 was 7.9%. African-American students\u27 perceptions of their continuation school experiences were the main focus of this study. The findings of this study showed that African-American students rated their perceptions of experiences in a traditional and a non-traditional continuation high school more positively than negatively. When comparing the perceptions of students in a traditional continuation high school and a non-traditional continuation high school, the traditional continuation high school attendees rated their experiences somewhat less favorably than students attending the non-traditional continuation school

Predictors of Zero Tolerance Policy Violations Among High School and Middle School Students

This study embarked on identifying social and economic variables to predict violations of zero tolerance policies. The objective of this study was to identify a set of variables that may predict circumstance that lead a student to violate zero tolerance policies. This study explored whether a set of five risk factors: (i) grade level, (ii) retention, (iii) suspension, (iv) race, and (v) gender can predict the criterion variable, zero tolerance policies violation. The research design supports the examination of the null hypothesis of no predictive relationship between the predictor variables grade level, suspension, race, and gender and the criterion variable which is the violation of zero tolerance policies for middle and high school students. In this correlation research study, archival data was collected from the greater metro region of a northeastern state public school database for two school years: 2014-2015 and 2017-2018. Students were drawn from three middle schools and one high school in the district. A multiple linear regression was conducted to determine which of the independent variables: grade level, suspension, race, and gender are predictors of the violation of zero tolerance policies for middle school and high school students. The findings of the statistical analysis provided an understanding of which set of risk factor variables can predict zero tolerance policy violations among middle school and high school students

Categorical perception effects reflect differences in typicality on within-category trials

Many studies have shown better discrimination of two stimuli that cross a category boundary than of two stimuli belonging to the same category. This finding, known as categorical perception, is generally assumed to reflect consistently good performance on cross-category trials, relative to within-category trials. However, Roberson, D., Damjanovic, L., and Pilling, M. (Memory & Cognition, 35, 1814-1829, 2007) revealed that performance on within-category pairs of morphed facial expressions matched performance on cross-category trials when the target was a good exemplar of its category. Here, we investigate the generality of that finding by conducting new analyses of data from a series of studies of categorical perception in facial identity and color domains with speakers of different languages. Consistent with Roberson et al. (2007), the new analyses demonstrate that performance for central targets on within-category trials is as good as performance on cross-category trials. Participants perform badly on within-category items only when the target is closer to the category boundary than is the distractor. These results provide no support for the view that categorical perception is associated with increased perceptual sensitivity at category boundaries. © 2010 Psychonomic Society, Inc