Deployable platform systems development

The long range objective is to achieve technology readiness for one or more deployable platform systems by 1986. Engineering plans and approaches to meet this goal are presented in outline form

Identification of multiloop pilot describing functions obtained from simulated approaches to an aircraft carrier

Predicted results of a simulation of the pilot's approach control strategy in the presence of pilot remnant are presented. The aircraft dynamics and the turbulence environment are representative of a trainer-type aircraft. The non-intrusive pilot identification program (NIPIP) was used to identify the pilot's control strategy required by this highly-coupled, multiloop control task. The results are presented in terms of frequency responses of the individual elements of the pilot's control strategy and indicate that NIPIP can identify the pilot's describing functions even in the presence of significant amounts of pilot remnant

Review of: Thomas Szasz, Fatal Freedom: The Ethics and Politics of Suicide

A review of the book Fatal Freedom: The Ethics and Politics of Suicide by Thomas Szasz (Praeger Publishers 1999). Preface, acknowledgments, appendix, notes, selected bibliography, indexes. ISBN 0-275-96646-1 [178 pp. $25.95. Hardbound, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881]

Manifolds, patterns and transitions in a creative life

Using sculpture and drawing as my primary methods of investigation, this research explores ways of shifting the emphasis of my creative visual arts practice from object to process whilst still maintaining a primacy of material outcomes. My motivation was to locate ways of developing a sustained practice shaped as much by new works, as by a creative flow between works. I imagined a practice where a logic of structure within discrete forms and a logic of the broader practice might be developed as mutually informed processes. Using basic structural components of multiple wooden curves and linear modes of deployment – in both sculptures and drawings – I have identified both emergence theory and the image of rhizomic growth (Deleuze and Guattari, 1987) as theoretically integral to this imagining of a creative practice, both in terms of critiquing and developing works. Whilst I adopt a formalist approach for this exegesis, the emergence and rhizome models allow it to work as a critique of movement, of becoming and changing, rather than merely a formalism of static structure. In these models, therefore, I have identified a formal approach that can be applied not only to objects, but to practice over time. The thorough reading and application of these ontological models (emergence and rhizome) to visual arts practice, in terms of processes, objects and changes, is the primary contribution of this thesis. The works that form the major component of the research develop, reflect and embody these notions of movement and change

Sustaining Argument: Centralizing the Role of the Writing Center in Program Assessment

In “Why Assessment?” (2009), Gerald Graff argues that the critical conversations arising from regular program assessment are often as important as the actual findings themselves: outcomes assessment, he writes, is not only fundamental to measuring students’ performance, but potentially “transformative” in terms of creating a recognizable dialogue about — and a more lively institutional culture of — good teaching (153). Agreeing with Graff’s claim, I argue that writing centers should take an active, if not central, role in the assessment of writing program outcomes by positioning themselves at the center of the evaluation process. My experiences as a writing center director involved in our university’s less-than-three-year-old writing program assessment has led me to this conclusion.University Writing Cente

Manipulated, Misled, Ignored, Abused: Residential Consumer Experience with Electric Deregulation in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom began deregulating its electric market years before the U.S. Thus, the UK provides the best example of what can be expected in the deregulated residential retail electric market in the United States. . An extensive review of the evidence found: Questionable price savings: Large drops in wholesale market prices were not fully passed on to residential consumers in the deregulated marketplace. Increase in complaints: The volume of complaints about energy companies jumped after deregulation, and new types of complaints such as unauthorized switching of service (“slamming”) arose. Failure of Competition to Develop: Rather than compete for new customers, companies are relying on customer inertia to keep their existing customer base. Higher prices for low- income consumers: Since deregulation begain in 1990, there has been a marked increase in the use of prepayment meters, resulting in low-income customers paying more for their electricity. These findings lead us to recommend against implementing plans to replace traditional regulation with “retail competition” for consumers. Where a state or country has already enacted such a plan, it should be prepared to address and remedy each of the problems identified above.Electricity Markets, Deregulation, United Kingdom, Energy Markets, privitization, privitisation, low-income consumers

Manufactured Housing Appreciation: Stereotypes and Data

Consumers Union assessed the financial appreciation of manufactured- housing units, by examining the relative appreciation rates of manufactured housing and site-built housing, as well as the factors affecting the appreciation rate of manufactured housing. Our analysis includes an extensive literature review of previous work in the field, as well as primary research using data from the 1985–1999 American Housing Survey Panel and county appraisal data from several counties in Texas. The stereotypes of manufactured housing are built upon very real differences in appreciation experienced by the people who own them. The large proportion of manufactured homes in rental parks contributes greatly to the lower appreciation experienced by manufactured home owners as a whole, as land ownership is an important driver of appreciation. High variation in the individual appreciation rates of manufactured homes also causes a higher proportion of manufactured homes, even packaged with land, to lose value over time. Even so, average appreciation rates of manufactured homes packaged with owned land are statistically in line with the site built market, and there are few inherent reasons that a home built in a factory should perform differently than one built on site. Our analysis suggests that consumers can make decisions which can improve the appreciation of a manufactured home. Land ownership, location, purchase price and maintenance expenditures are among the factors that predict appreciation, and should be considered when attempting to increase appreciation in a particular unit.manufactured housing mobile home appreciation

Enhancing Bayesian risk prediction for epidemics using contact tracing

Contact tracing data collected from disease outbreaks has received relatively little attention in the epidemic modelling literature because it is thought to be unreliable: infection sources might be wrongly attributed, or data might be missing due to resource contraints in the questionnaire exercise. Nevertheless, these data might provide a rich source of information on disease transmission rate. This paper presents novel methodology for combining contact tracing data with rate-based contact network data to improve posterior precision, and therefore predictive accuracy. We present an advancement in Bayesian inference for epidemics that assimilates these data, and is robust to partial contact tracing. Using a simulation study based on the British poultry industry, we show how the presence of contact tracing data improves posterior predictive accuracy, and can directly inform a more effective control strategy.Comment: 40 pages, 9 figures. Submitted to Biostatistic

Classroom of the apes: is teaching monkey business?

Between 1973 and 2000, social scientists conducted one of the most significant, innovative and challenging programmes in the history of linguistic and educational research. ‘Project Nim’ investigated both the interaction between nature and nurture and attempted to bring human level gestural communication to a chimpanzee called ‘Nim’. The study offered some of the most important insights into our understanding of language and cognition and what it means to be human, and represents a landmark in our thinking about teaching and learning, and education itself. Here, the authors contend that essential lessons from the experiment have been overlooked and risk being forgotten. This article revisits the study, exploring some of the issues it raises, and attempts to site what we learnt from Nim in the context of modern teaching practice. Through this re‐examination we intend to provoke thinking not only about ‘Project Nim’, but perhaps also about other lost lessons in education. We conclude by reflecting on the importance of remembering the lessons we learnt when trying to teach Nim, and how they can enhance our practice as teachers for all learners