Space coast : notes

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1978.by Michel Christopher Negroponte.Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1978

The Effects of Formal Group and Extracurricular Involvement on College Students’ Self-Esteem

The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of college students\u27 engagement in formal group activities on self-esteem levels. Youth and adolescent extracurricular involvement was also taken into account to help determine influence on college participation. Hypotheses suggested that group affiliation would positively affect self-esteem and that extracurricularly motivated children would be more likely to join formal activities in college. A sample of 149 Oberlin College students completed a survey that included the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and nine of these subjects were selected for in-depth interviews. Both quantitative and qualitative data results indicated that formal group members’ self-esteem levels were not distinct from their non-group participant peers. Early group involvement, however, predicted later engagement, and athletic team membership during middle and high school often led to varsity athletic participation at Oberlin. The relationship between athletic team participation and self-esteem proved significant in the survey data, though interviewees’ self-esteem levels did not necessarily reflect higher trends

The Effects of Formal Group and Extracurricular Involvement on College Students’ Self-Esteem

The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of college students\u27 engagement in formal group activities on self-esteem levels. Youth and adolescent extracurricular involvement was also taken into account to help determine influence on college participation. Hypotheses suggested that group affiliation would positively affect self-esteem and that extracurricularly motivated children would be more likely to join formal activities in college. A sample of 149 Oberlin College students completed a survey that included the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and nine of these subjects were selected for in-depth interviews. Both quantitative and qualitative data results indicated that formal group members’ self-esteem levels were not distinct from their non-group participant peers. Early group involvement, however, predicted later engagement, and athletic team membership during middle and high school often led to varsity athletic participation at Oberlin. The relationship between athletic team participation and self-esteem proved significant in the survey data, though interviewees’ self-esteem levels did not necessarily reflect higher trends

A metaphoric cluster analysis of the rhetoric of digital technology

This thesis seeks to identify and explain some technology in order to more fully understand modern communication. This study makes use of metaphoric cluster analysis to examine the technological rhetoric of Nicholas Negroponte

Urgency, Opportunity, and Frustration: Implementing the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004

A terrorist organization targets America\u27s airlines, igniting domestic panic and finger-pointing in Washington. The plot is hatched in a distant Muslim-majority nation-a country with which the United States has maintained a historically volatile relationship and in which multiple attacks against U.S. citizens originated in the past decade. A key perpetrator hails from another country where Islamic extremism is known to thrive, and he traveled to other countries en route to the United States, evading airport security. With the benefit of hindsight, the plot now appears crystal clear. Prior to the incident, multiple U.S. and foreign government agencies possessed bits and pieces of relevant information. There was no smoking gun that in itself could have foiled the attack. But if the disparate intelligence had been integrated properly into a coherent picture, perhaps the terrorist attempt could have been thwarted at an earlier stage

Kinematic Effects of Tidal Interaction on Galaxy Rotation Curves

We use self-consistent N-body models, in conjunction with models of test particles moving in galaxy potentials, to explore the initial effects of interactions on the rotation curves of spiral galaxies. Using nearly self-consistent disk/bulge/halo galaxy models (Kuijken & Dubinski 1995), we simulate the first pass of galaxies on nearly parabolic orbits; we vary orbit inclinations, galaxy halo masses and impact parameters. For each simulation, we mimic observed rotation curves of the model galaxies. Transient interaction-induced features of the curves include distinctly rising or falling profiles at large radii and pronounced bumps in the central regions. Remarkably similar features occur in our statistical sample of optical emission-line rotation curves of spiral galaxies in tight pairs and n-tuples.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

SAURON's Challenge for the Major Merger Scenario of Elliptical Galaxy Formation

The intrinsic anisotropy delta and flattening epsilon of simulated merger remnants is compared with elliptical galaxies that have been observed by the SAURON collaboration, and that were analysed using axisymmetric Schwarzschild models. Collisionless binary mergers of stellar disks and disk mergers with an additional isothermal gas component, neglecting star formation cannot reproduce the observed trend delta = 0.55 epsilon (SAURON relationship). An excellent fit of the SAURON relationship for flattened ellipticals with epsilon >= 0.25 is however found for merger simulations of disks with gas fractions >= 20%, including star formation and stellar energy feedback. Massive black hole feedback does not strongly affect this result. Subsequent dry merging of merger remnants however does not generate the slowly-rotating SAURON ellipticals which are characterized by low ellipticities epsilon < 0.25 and low anisotropies. This indicates that at least some ellipticals on the red galaxy sequence did not form by binary mergers of disks or early-type galaxies. We show that stellar spheroids resulting from multiple, hierarchical mergers of star-bursting subunits in a cosmological context are in excellent agreement with the low ellipticities and anisotropies of the slowly rotating SAURON ellipticals and their observed trend of delta with epsilon. The numerical simulations indicate that the SAURON relation might be a result of strong violent relaxation and phase mixing of multiple, kinematically cold stellar subunits with the angular momentum of the system determining its location on the relation.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Ap

Systems of urban growth.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Thesis. 1966. B.Arch.Bibliography: leaves 96-107.B.Arch

NGC 4138 - A Case Study in Counterrotating Disk Formation

The Sa(r) galaxy NGC 4138 has been recently found to contain an extensive counterrotating disk which appears to be still forming. Up to a third of the stars in the disk system may be on retrograde orbits. A counterrotating ring of H II regions, along with extended counterrotating H I gas, suggests that the retrograde material has been recently acquired in the gas phase and is still trickling in. Using numerical simulations, we have attempted to model the process by which the counterrotating mass has been accreted by this galaxy. We investigate two possibilities: continuous retrograde infall of gas, and a retrograde merger with a gas-rich dwarf galaxy. Both processes are successful in producing a counterrotating disk of the observed mass and dimensions without heating up the primary significantly. Contrary to our experience with a fiducial cold, thin primary disk, the gas-rich merger works well for the massive, compact primary disk of NGC 4138 even though the mass of the dwarf galaxy is a significant fraction of the mass of the primary disk. Although we have restricted ourselves mainly to coplanar infall and mergers, we report on one inclined infall simulation as well. We also explore the possibility that the H-alpha ring seen in the inner half of the disk is a consequence of counterrotating gas clouds colliding with corotating gas already present in the disk and forming stars in the process.Comment: To appear in ApJ, 21 pages, LaTeX (aaspp4) format, 17 figs (gzipped tar file) also available at ftp://bessel.mps.ohio-state.edu/pub/thakar/cr2/ or at http://www-astronomy.mps.ohio-state.edu/~thakar