Evaluating the psychometric properties of the multigroup ethnic identity measure (MEIM) within the United Kingdom

In the present study, we examined the psychometric properties of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) (Phinney, 1992; Phinney & Alipuria, 1990) among an ethnically diverse sample within the United Kingdom. In initial analyses, we evaluated the goodness-of-fit of a one-factor model (i.e., global ethnic identity) and the goodness-of-fit of a two-factor model (i.e., correlated but distinct Exploration and Commitment components). Results of initial confirmatory factor analyses led us to reject both the one-factor and two-factor models. Results of subsequent exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a three-factor structure (i.e., correlated but distinct Behavioral, Cognitive, and Affective components of ethnic identity) among the sample as a whole (n = 234) and among Asian Indian persons (n = 88) in particular, though resulst were mixed among White U.K./Irish persons (n = 54) in particular. Implications for the study of ethnicity-related concepts in the incerasibgly multi-cultural U.K. are discussed

Investigations of the potential performance characteristics of selected contact lubricants for applications in miniature slip-ring capsules of the type used in ST 124 M stabilized inertial guidance platforms Final technical report, 27 Mar. 1968 - 30 Apr. 1970

Performance characteristics of liquid and solid lubricants for contacts of miniature slip-ring capsule

The effects of the geosynchronous energetic particle radiation environment on spacecraft charging phenomena

The energetic electron environment at the geosynchronous orbit is responsible for a variety of adverse charging effects on spacecraft components. The most serious of these is the degradation and failure of a complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) electronic components as a result of internal charge-buildup induced by the energetic electrons. Efforts to accurately determine the expected lifetime of these components in this orbit are hampered by the lack of detailed knowledge of the electron spectrum and intensity, particularly of the more penetrating energies greater than 1.5 MeV. This problem is illustrated through the calculation of the dose received by a CMOS device from the energetic electrons and associated bremsstrahlung as a function of aluminum shielding thickness using the NASA AE-6 and the Aerospace measured electron environments. Two computational codes which were found to be in good agreement were used to perform the calculations. For a given shielding thickness the dose received with the two radiation environments differ by as much as a factor of seven with a corresponding variation in lifetime of the CMOS

The president's council of economic advisers.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityThis paper is an effort to examine the work of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, created by the Employment Act of 1946, in its relation to economic science as a guide to practical policy and analysis and to the functions of the economist in the public service. In its role as an advisory body, instrument of analysis, and an agency devoted to the appraisal and formulation of practical programs of action in the economic sphere, the Council is daily confronted with problems which are predominantly extra-economic in their implications, and which it must meet in a manner having regard both for its professional responsibilities to economics as a science and to the requirements and goals of the Employment Act. The author has used as principal sources the publications issued by the President's Council of Economic Advisers and the Joint Committee on the Economic Report since their inception, as well as having examined extensively the leading economic journals and recent publications for reference to the Council's work. The paper covers a period from the beginnings of agitation for an employment act, in 1944, to the first months in 1950. The origins of the Employment Act are traced, the structure and functioning of the Council is studied, and special emphasis given to the conflicts arising out of differing interpretations of the Council's role in presenting its analyses and in its relations with the President and with Congress. A section summarizing the leading observations from the Annual Reports reveals the conflict within the Council as to the means and goals of stabilization. An attempt is made to analyze and discuss the adequacy of the tools being used by the Council in the preparation of its Analyses of the Economic Situation. This discussion is centered around the concept of the Nation's Economic Budget, the adequacy of statistics, and the problem of forecasting. Leading criticisms of the Council's work, pointing up the problems revealed in the previous chapters, are then tabulated and analyzed, along with legislative attempts to implement the Employment Act and recommendations for modification of the Council's structure and responsibilities. In general, the major conclusion reached by the author is that the Employment Act itself, by its failure to resolve any policy issues or to specify any accepted means of stabilization or tools of analysis, as had been done in the original Full Employment Bill, placed the Council in an extremely difficult position. Without any agreement on institutional goals for the economy, the Council has no frame of reference against which to measure its policies and hence is continually charged with speaking beyond its rightful province and of mixing political, ethical, and social considerations with its analyses. Until the ends of national economic policy are more clearly delineated through legislation, these difficulties will continue. For its own part, the Council needs to be careful to specify the assumptions underlying its analyses and to separate those which are primarily non-economic from those of a purely economic character, in order that it may avoid invoking judgments of value as judgments of economic fact. The Council has been too inclined to formulate desirable policy in all directions without giving due regard to a concentrated stabilization program to meet the immediate problems of the economy. It needs larger public understanding and strong Presidential support in its work. Set forth on a sea of unresolved issues, it has tended to develop, like an ameba, along the lines of least resistance

Protocol Requirements for Self-organizing Artifacts: Towards an Ambient Intelligence

We discuss which properties common-use artifacts should have to collaborate without human intervention. We conceive how devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs, and home appliances, could be seamlessly integrated to provide an "ambient intelligence" that responds to the user's desires without requiring explicit programming or commands. While the hardware and software technology to build such systems already exists, as yet there is no standard protocol that can learn new meanings. We propose the first steps in the development of such a protocol, which would need to be adaptive, extensible, and open to the community, while promoting self-organization. We argue that devices, interacting through "game-like" moves, can learn to agree about how to communicate, with whom to cooperate, and how to delegate and coordinate specialized tasks. Thus, they may evolve a distributed cognition or collective intelligence capable of tackling complex tasks.Comment: To be presented at 5th International Conference on Complex System

Residual Toxicities of Insecticides to Cotton Insects.

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Towards hardware acceleration of neuroevolution for multimedia processing applications on mobile devices

This paper addresses the problem of accelerating large artificial neural networks (ANN), whose topology and weights can evolve via the use of a genetic algorithm. The proposed digital hardware architecture is capable of processing any evolved network topology, whilst at the same time providing a good trade off between throughput, area and power consumption. The latter is vital for a longer battery life on mobile devices. The architecture uses multiple parallel arithmetic units in each processing element (PE). Memory partitioning and data caching are used to minimise the effects of PE pipeline stalling. A first order minimax polynomial approximation scheme, tuned via a genetic algorithm, is used for the activation function generator. Efficient arithmetic circuitry, which leverages modified Booth recoding, column compressors and carry save adders, is adopted throughout the design

Review of world experience and properties of materials for encapsulation of terrestrial photovoltaic arrays

Published and unpublished information relating to encapsulation systems and materials properties was collected by searching the literature and appropriate data bases (over 1,300 documents were selected and reviewed) and by personal contacts including site and company visits. A data tabulation summarizing world experience with terrestrial photovoltaic arrays (50 installations) is presented in the report. Based on criteria of properties, processability, availability, and cost, candidate materials were identified which have potential for use in encapsulation systems for arrays with a lifetime of over 20 years high reliability, an efficiency greater than 10 percent, a total price less than $500/kW, and a production capacity of 500,000 kW/yr. The recommended materials (all commercially available) include, depending upon the device design, various borosilicate and soda-lime glasses and numerous polymerics suitable for specific encapsulation system functions

Development of an Accelerated Test Design for Predicting the Service Life of the Solar Array at Mead, Nebraska

Potential long-term degradation modes for the two types of modules in the Mead array were determined and judgments were made as to those environmental stresses and combinations of stresses which accelerate the degradation of the power output. Hierarchical trees representing the severity of effects of stresses (test conditions) on eleven individual degradation modes were constructed and were pruned of tests judged to be nonessential. Composites of those trees were developed so that there is now one pruned tree covering eight degradation modes, another covering two degradation modes, and a third covering one degradation mode. These three composite trees form the basis for selection of test conditions in the final test plan which is now being prepared