Cooperative coevolutionary algorithms (CCEA) are a form of evolutionary algorithm that is applicable when the problem can be decomposed into components. Each component is assigned a subpopulation that evolves a good solution to the subproblem. To compute an individual's fitness, it is combined with collaborators drawn from the other subpopulations to form a complete solution. The individual's fitness is a function of this solution's fitness. The contributors to the comprehensive fitness formula are known as collaborators. The number of collaborators allowed from each subpopulation is called pool size. It has been shown that the outcome of the CCEA can be improved by allowing multiple collaborators from each subpopulation. This results in larger pool sizes, but improved fitness. The improvement in fitness afforded by larger pool sizes is offset by increased calculation costs. This study targeted the pool size parameter of CCEAs by devising dynamic strategies for the assignment of pool size to regulate selection pressure. Subpopulations were rewarded with a larger pool size or penalized with a smaller pool size based on measures of their diversity and/or fitness. Measures for population diversity and fitness used in this study were derived from various works involving evolutionary computation. This study showed that dynamically assigning pool size based on these measures of the diversity and fitness of the subpopulations can yield improved fitness results with significant reduction in calculation costs over statically assigned pool sizes.

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Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Brian C. Briggeman / Farmer cooperatives have contributed to the vitality and sustainability of many communities across rural America. Since the passage of the Capper-Volstead Act in 1922, cooperatives have not only served the needs of members, but also provided economic support, employment, and wages in rural communities. The objective of this research is to measure the total economic contribution of grain and farm supply cooperatives to the Kansas economy. Economic contribution results are often calculated utilizing the Input-Output and/or Social Accounting Matrix framework. IMPLAN, an economic analysis software, provides necessary data and the framework to quantify economic and employment contributions. The software enables total contribution to include the direct effects of farmer cooperatives, the indirect effect of the industry’s economic relationships, and the additional spending of wages and income by households and governments. This analysis utilized survey results of Kansas cooperatives, the CoBank Risk Analyst database, and the Kansas Department of Labor’s quarterly census of employment and wages. Modeling considered both local ownership and single-level taxation, two characteristics of cooperative businesses. Two economic contribution analyses depict industry variation based on degree of local ownership. The sample of cooperative survey respondents confirm a relatively high level of Kansas ownership. The actual contribution of the Kansas cooperative sector is likely closer to the upper bound total contribution results. The total direct, indirect, and induced results for the Kansas cooperative sector assuming completely localized ownership includes 9,940 jobs, $631.7 million in labor income, $1.1 billion in total income and $1.8 billion in output. Valuing the economic contribution of cooperatives to the Kansas economy can provide useful insights into the industry and its contribution to rural economic welfare. As consolidation and rapid growth has characterized the grain marketing and farm supply cooperative landscape, the results can inform discussion related to market influence, community support, and public policy.

Master of Engineering (Research) / This thesis deals with the problem of cooperative explorations of a group of autonomous vehicles in unknown environments in the context of decentralized behaviour. The main contribution of this thesis is the development of a comprehensive decentralized cooperative exploration frame work in which each individual vehicle has the ability to explore an unknown environment by itself and also by cooperative behaviour in a team of several vehicles. To simulate the whole system, each individual vehicle will have the ability to explore an unknown environment by dynamically path-planning (with obstacle and collision avoidance), high-level con- trolling, updating the environment map, proposing potential destinations (frontiers), and solving online task assignment. In this thesis, the framework simulates an unknown environment as an occupancy grid map and uses a frontier-base exploration strategy, in which a cell will be marked as a frontier if it is adjacent at least one open cell, as the core architecture. In dealing with the uncertainties in process transition and observation models of autonomous vehicles, the well-known discrete extended Kalman filter (EKF) algorithm is investigated and implemented. When exploring the environment, a vehicle will update its surrounding information, then propose its potential destinations and evaluate the utility (benefit) to travel to each of those destinations. The benefit to go to each destination is derived from the subtraction of the utility (value) of that cell to the sum of the cost to travel to that cell and the steering cost. The key to cooperative exploration in the team of vehicles lies in each vehicle's ability to communicate the updates of the world to the whole team and to contribute to the global list of potential destinations. And each vehicle has the capability of solving the task assignment problem for the team by calling its own online-task-assignment solving engine. This algorithm results each vehicle in having a destination to visit, which benefits the whole team the most and reduces the total exploration time of the team.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This thesis, although dealing specifically with Oregon Agricultural cooperatives, has significance for agricultural cooperatives on a national basis when discussing equity financing. The central issue is whether a patron may in effect transfer his cooperative equity holding to another person without impairing the total function of the cooperative? To answer this question it is necessary to further define the nature of cooperative equities and also provide clearer information into the legal, tax, accounting and operational techniques used in cooperative equity financing. This study examined cooperative bylaws which make specific references to the handling of equities including transfers under different circumstances. The Internal Revenue Code provisions and specific IRS rulings with regard to equity issuance, transfer and redemption are dealt with in depth and summarized into probable tax consequences. Securities regulation with respect to cooperative equity allocations are also examined. Existing statute and regulation as well as proposed reforms are reviewed and summarized. Alternate methods of equity transfers are then identified and analyzed with respect to cash flow and taxation. Alternate methods of equity transferability are identified and thoroughly analyzed with respect to taxation, investment opportunity and cash flow. Comparative illustrations are utilized to present differences in holding various equities versus transferring equities at a discounted value given assumptions of tax rates, investment opportunities, revolving periods, etc. In conclusion, a number of decision criteria must be considered prior to evaluating a program of equity transferability which are as follows: 1) Cash Needs of Patrons - Cooperative patrons generally have a need for on-farm capital and may face a substantial opportunity cost in holding equities. 2) Distribution of Equity Holding - Certain patrons may be personally well-capitalized and willing to finance equity holding while undercapitalized patrons, former patrons, and estates of deceased patrons may seek to redistribute equity holdings. 3) Establishment of a Market - Methods and standards of equity valuation in transfer which could be established in a market may lead to both beneficial and costly effects for the cooperative and patron in both the long and short term. 4) Cooperative Benefits - A number of benefits accrue to the patron through operation of a cooperative such as the effect on the market structure, economies of scale, farmer participation in ownership and control, etc. These benefits should be understood and evaluated when considering tradeoffs caused through potential costs associated with equity transferability. 5) External Considerations - Perhaps the most important single factor is the effect of costs associated with potential alteration of government control or regulation of cooperative taxation, securities regulation, and marketing practices. Recommendations in the area of equity transferability are intended to improve cooperative service and response to cash needs of patrons while limiting cooperative exposure to adverse or costly regulation. It is suggested that a judicious program of equity transferability may be feasible for "tax-exempt" (as defined by I.R.S.) cooperatives. Cooperative bylaws and operating procedures should be reviewed to assure the handling of transfers, the scope of transferability, the rights of non-patron equity holders, and adequate disclosure of information meets the approval of directors and/or legal counsel in limiting potential problem areas. Consideration is also given to alternate capital programs and methods of equity distribution which may meet both cooperative and patron goals. / Graduation date: 1978

In this thesis we study a new type of pursuit-evasion game, which we call the herding problem. Unlike typical pursuit evasion games where the pursuer aims to catch or intercept the evader, the goal of the pursuer in this game is to drive the evader to a certain location or region in the x-y plane. This herding model is proposed and represented using dynamic equations. The model is implemented in an effort to understand how two pursuers work cooperatively to drive multiple evaders to the desired destination following weighted time-optimal and effort-optimal control paths. Simulation of this herding problem is accomplished through dynamic programming by utilizing the SNOPT software in the MATLAB environment. The numerical solution gives us the optimal path for all agents and the corresponding controls as well as the relative distance and angle variables. The results show that the pursuers can work cooperatively to drive multiple evaders to the goal.

The overall purpose of this study was to understand the influence of selected factors on the adoption of eXtension by Texas Cooperative Extension County Extension agents. Specifically, the study looked at how the relationships between stage in the innovation-decision process, characteristics of agents, characteristics of the innovation, and barriers to adoption affect the diffusion of eXtension. A random sample of 237 agents was selected for participation in the study. A majority of agents reported they were in the knowledge stage (52%); 31% had no knowledge of the innovation; 8% were in the implementation stage; 3% were in the persuasion stage; 3% were in the decision stage and 2% were in the confirmation stage. Respondents had positive perceptions of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity and trialability as those characteristics related to eXtension. They had the most positive perceptions of complexity. They did not perceive eXtension to have a high degree of observability. Agents perceived at least five barriers existed to the adoption of eXtension. Reducing or eliminating these barriers, particularly the barrier related to concerns about time, would be expected to positively affect the rate of adoption. Agents’ perceptions of complexity and compatibility significantly differed by primary agent role and gender, respectively. The differences may be attributable to varying job experiences based upon role and gender. Agents’ perceptions of a lack of eXtension incentives significantly differed by education. Significant relationships existed between selected characteristics of eXtension and potential barriers to the adoption of eXtension. Based on the findings, offering monetary incentives may increase the rate of adoption, and decrease agents’ financial concerns. Significantly more respondents reported they were in the “no knowledge” stage in the innovation-decision than would be expected to occur by chance. Agents may have ignored repeated messages about eXtension because it was not perceived as consistent with their attitudes and beliefs. This implication should be noted by those hoping to increase the diffusion of eXtension. On a broader level, these findings support expanding the model of the innovation-decision process to include the “no knowledge” stage.

When interpreting religion one faces a dilemma. Realist interpretations of religion face the philosophical problem of religious diversity and irrealist interpretations of religion are revisionary. There are two fundamentally different forms of religious irrealism. One, religious anti-realism, describes those who deny that the objective truth conditions by which a given instance of religious language would be true obtain. The other, religious non-realism, describes those who hold that for a given instance of religious language there are no objective truth conditions; that is, a given instance of religious language does not express a proposition. Taking this distinction into account clarifies much of the confusion involved in discussions of religious realism. Providing such clarity with respect to the issues associated with religious realism and religious irrealism is a theme throughout the dissertation. The other goals of the dissertation involve examining the issues raised by the aforementioned dilemma. Realist interpretations of religion are those that maintain for a particular instance of religious language to be true, that which is described by that language must obtain independently of what we do, say or believe. For realism, only that p objectively obtains can make p true. It is for this reason that realist interpretations face the philosophical problem of religious diversity. The worlds religious landscape is marked by similarly credible but conflicting truth claims. On a realist conception one religions claim to ultimate truth necessarily conflicts with that of another if these claims diverge. An examination of the epistemological issues raised by these similarly credible but conflicting claims to religious truth constitutes the first portion of the dissertation. For religious irrealism, the truth conditions of a given instance of religious language are dependent on what we do, say or believe. On this view, God exists can be considered true even if by God exists we mean something other than that God exists. The truth of God exists thus depends on something other than that God exists and as such exemplifies the revisionary character of religious irrealism. The second portion of the dissertation examines these issues as they concern irrealist interpretations of religion.

The purpose of this study is to assemble and assess the ethics of war and peace in the writings of Paul Tillich. It proceeds chronologically, sketching the evolution of Tillichs thought from the period of his World War One chaplaincy in the German Imperial Army through the time of the Cold War, when he was one of the most prominent Protestant theologians in the United States. The material for this study includes two hundred seventy-five primary sources and nearly two hundred secondary sources. Tillichs corpus ranges from lectures and occasional articles to theological treatises, from political and social theory to sermons and radio addresses, from systematic theology to philosophy of history. Chapter one analyzes Tillichs theological roots and his chaplaincy sermons as the starting point for his thoughts on power, nation, and nationalism. Chapter two examines his post war turn to socialist thought and his participation in religious socialism, fueling his cultural analyses and culminating in his forced emigration under Hitler. Chapter three probes the transitional, American inter war period of Tillichs work, giving special attention to his self-described boundary perspective as well as the one treatise he wrote on religion and international affairs. Chapter four is devoted to his Voice of America speeches, written and broadcasted into his former homeland during World War Two. Chapter five covers the same Second World War period, giving special attention to Tillichs message to his English-speaking audience and emphasizing social and world reconstruction. Chapter six turns to the Cold War period and Tillichs apparently lessening interest in political and social theory and interpretation of history, but his simultaneous commitment to paths toward personhood in a internationally bipolar world. The concluding seventh chapter assembles Tillichs ethics of war and peace as an ethic of religious internationalism. It assesses the ethic, offering suggestions for adjustments intended to give it more universal significance. The study concludes that Tillichs thought has provocative contributions to make to current debates regarding civilizational conflict, economics and international justice, trade and globalization, the defense of unprotected minorities, and immigration policy.