The Nonreligious: Understanding Secular People and Societies, by PHIL ZUCKERMAN, LUKE W. GALEN, and FRANK L. PASQUALE. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016, 336 pp.; $24.95 (paper), $99.00 (cloth)

Review of Warner, Rob. Secularization and Its Discontents. London: Continuum, 2010. 221 pp. pbk $34.95 (USD). ISBN: 978-1441127853

This thesis, being one of exploratory research initially because of a paucity of research of a professional and academic nature, examines cockfighting in its social entirety, focusing upon its social structure. The lack of such previous research on cockfighting necessitated the collection of data through primary as well as secondary sources. Thus, a combination of research methods was employed to facilitate the investigation. A combination of data collection strategies also proved necessary for the realization of the total research objective, that being the presentation of cockfighting as a complete social structure involving a history and tradition, the activity as a sport, its organization, complexity, extent and distribution, as well as other social considerations. In essence then, the research focus addresses a socioethnographic investigation of cockfighting. The entire research strategy was intended to study the cockfighting participants au naturel, in the field, as they went about their day to day lives as opposed to depending on a sample studied in non-natural surroundings such as arrest records. Such observational research yields an immensity of detailed description that does not readily lend itself to the type of summary that is possible with quantifiable data. However, precise quantification often does not afford the detailed accuracy that is facilitated by observational research, and such detailed description becomes necessary to provide an adequate background of understanding to those having no social experience with such an activity, and for such an activity that has not previously stimulated much research interest. Thus, an ethnographic description of the sport is presented as well as the social and legal history of the sport, the linguistic influences of the activity, the distribution and regional variation of the sport, along with other surrounding activities. Such detailed presentation is essential for an accurate conception of cockfighting and its organization. In reviewing the literature concerning the concept of subculture, the requisites for the existence and thus the characteristics of a subculture are delineated; such characteristics are then reveals 2 to exist within the realm of cockfighting. Identified as inteqral to the cockfighting subculture are nine subcultural roles which present themselves in an evolutionary and chronological hierarchy. Also discerned by the research are four major motivations cited by the twenty informants for reason(s) of membership. Such motivational types may be directly associated with certain of the subcultural roles. Throughout the thesis, the culture and tradition of the cockfighting subculture is exposed along with the subcultural values and justifications. An analysis of subcultural "deviance" is presented largely from the perspectives of the labeling theory and symbolic politics. It was revealed that there seems to be a lack of development of a deviant self-image among members of the cockfighting subculture, and further, as indicated by the twenty informants, members of the cockfighting subculture are apparently rather tolerant of participants in various types of "deviant behaviors," possibly because of their association with a stigmatize activity. The organization of cockfighting is juxtaposed with the concept of voluntary associations after sufficient literature addressing voluntary associations has been reviewed. This juxtaposition reveals many similarities between the cockfighting subculture and the voluntary association, the one exception being the formal structure of the voluntary association. However, in that the cockfighting subculture has a tradition and a culture that functionally replaces the formal structure in many areas, the concept of "informal voluntary associations" emerges. This thesis finds that the cockfighting subculture is extremely organized and largely self-regulating and that the participants represent all social classes, thus violating the stereotypical conceptions and attitudes of the public concerning cockfighting. Finally, certain suggestions are made for potential and/or future research into cockfighting and related topics raised by this thesis.

There are substantial amounts of research on risk factors that contribute to abuse among adults with developmental disabilities. There are also studies that explore preventative measures and safety factors to help reduce abuse among the population. These relevant studies and research has examined the relationship between developmental disabilities, types of abuse, risk factors, effectiveness of risk assessments, and prevention. The main purpose of this study is to explore the problem of high abuse rates amongst this population and discuss social service professional’s perspective on the current preventative measures used to protect adults with developmental disabilities from abuse. For this quantitative study, the researcher distributed questionnaires to social service professionals to gauge their experiences with working with the developmentally disabled population, and assessing abuse. The data obtained from the questionnaires were analyzed for the purpose of giving a descriptive and exploratory view of the study. The key findings of the study showed the demographics of the participants and clients, abuse types and assessment techniques, and outcomes of abuse cases. There were no significant findings between variables, but the data showed that there is a break down in effective assessment techniques and procedures when assessing abuse among the developmentally disabled. Limitations and recommendations for social work practice were also discussed.

Central to many theories of deviance and delinquency (differential association, social learning, and social bond) are peer and familial influences on deviant behavior. A conceptual framework that incorporated both peer and familial influence to address the role of cross-sex peers on female deviance was built based on a review of the literature. Using substance use as an indicator of deviance, the effects of having three forms of male associates (male friends, romantic partners, and sexual partners) on female substance use were examined. Focus was on the effects of different types of male peer relationships, how those effects differed from the effects of female peer relationships, and how parental control might be greater for girls with only female peers. The conceptual model incorporated three measures of parental control—parentally granted autonomy, parental presence at home, and time spent in shared activities with parents—that were used to test the effects of male associates on female substance use. Analyzing data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), one combined measure for male associates was regressed on female substance use while controlling for parental control measures to determine if the effects of male associates on female substance use were mediated by parental control. Results indicated that while each type of male associate increased the likelihood of female substance use, effects were stronger for romantic and sexual partners than for male friends. Female friends also increased the likelihood of substance use. While the effects of male friends did not significantly differ from the effects of female friends, the effects of romantic and sexual partners did. The effects of male associates were significant even with the inclusion of parental control measures. Though both relationships with male associates and parents significantly affected female substance use, results did not provide support for the conceptual model. With results providing greater support for theories of peer influence than parental influence, future research should continue to examine peer relationship influences on deviance, how these influences vary by type of association, and how gender effects peer influence processes.

This research is concerned with the flight dynamic, pitch flight control and flying qualities assessment for the reference BWB aircraft. It aims to develop the longitudinal control laws which could satisfy the flying and handing qualities over the whole flight envelope with added consideration of centre of gravity (CG) variation. In order to achieve this goal, both the longitudinal stability augmentation system (SAS) and autopilot control laws are studied in this thesis. Using the pole placement method, two sets of local Linear-Time-Invariant (LTI) SAS controllers are designed from the viewpoints of flying and handing qualities assessment and wind disturbance checking. The global gain schedule is developed with the scheduling variable of dynamic pressure to transfer gains smoothly between these two trim points. In addition, the poles movement of short period mode with the varying CG position are analysed, and some approaches of control system design to address the problem of reduced stability induced by CG variation are discussed as well. To achieve the command control for the aircraft, outer loop autopilot both pitch attitude hold and altitude hold are implemented by using the root locus method. By the existing criteria in MIL-F-8785C specifications being employed to assess the augmented aircraft response, the SAS linear controller with automatic changing gains effectively improve the stability characteristic for the reference BWB aircraft over the whole envelope. Hence, the augmented aircraft equals to a good characteristic controlled object for the outer loop or command path design, which guarantee the satisfactory performance of command control for the BWB aircraft. The flight control law for the longitudinal was completed with the SAS controller and autopilot design. In particular, the SAS was achieved with Level 1 flying and handing qualities, meanwhile the autopilot system was applied to obtain a satisfactory pitch attitude and altitude tracking performance.

This research focuses on the methods of introduction into BDSM, role identification, and the management of private information as it relates to BDSM. The method utilized for this study was in-depth interviews of fifteen current participants in the BDSM subculture. It is primarily through peer association, sexual scripting, and impression management that new members are introduced, learn their role, and manage their information within the BDSM subculture. It was found that peer association is the primary method of socializing members. Role identification is accomplished through both a method of sexual scripting as well as complimentary differentiation, the process by which a stimulus is transmitted and received, and subsequent stimuli are transmitted back, reinterpreted and responded to. It is through impression management and stigma management that members learn to maintain the privacy of their participation. Future research should include additional analysis with a larger sample size to determine if the current findings will continue to hold true.

In this study, I analyze the responses of police officers to questions regarding their involvement in the use of Community-Oriented Policing strategies. When the officer encounters a drug offender they must decide how to deal with the situation. There are a variety of trained responses and policies available. The data is grouped into nine variables; time in law enforcement, time in department, perceived support, perceived barriers, COP strategy, COP action, prevention, help, and citation. The data is then analyzed using structural equation modeling.

AC/DC Buck converters have been used widely in many applications from cell phones to vehicle battery chargers. Due to their importance many researchers have been studying their behavior to improve their efficiency and reduce their size and/or cost. One of the most common defects of these converters, whether they are used for high power or low power applications, is the unwanted ripples in the input voltage across the input stage. It is believed that these ripples are caused by the interaction between the converter itself or its controller with the rectifier required to change the AC input into DC followed by an input filter. Many strategies have been suggested to tackle this problem. A new strategy to improve the controller of that converter was suggested by M. Lenells [1] and it was based on a Hamiltonian model for the 3-phase AC/DC converter together with its rectifier. As a first step, we simulated this model for a single-phase DC/DC buck converter only using the so-called S-Functions in MATLAB/SIMULINK. Then we could find a control law that would reduce the ripples in the input voltage and keep the output voltage constant simultaneously. In this report, we present this model and its simulation to pave the way for the control and simulation of the 3-phase AC/DC converter.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration