People age 55 and over will dramatically increase in the next 25 years, and will comprise approximately 30% of the total population. They may want to maintain their current lifestyle, and at the same time, they will experience changes of their lifecycle stage that could affect their housing choices. Even though single-family, detached housing is the most dominant housing type in the U.S., a significant number of older adults could choose to live in multifamily housing if their motivations and background are understood. The choice to live in multifamily housing by adults in their later life may be influenced by their past experiences living in multifamily housing, and by their current satisfaction with multifamily housing living. The purpose of this study was to investigate the past, current, and future housing behavior of residents 55 and older living in multifamily housing. The research framework for this study was developed based on Morris and Winter's (1975, 1978) theory of housing adjustment and Wiseman's (1980) model of elderly migration. The research framework was comprised of five major sections: (a) Current Demographic Characteristics, (b) Previous Demographic Characteristics, (c) Reasons for Moving into Current housing, (d) Residential Satisfaction, and (e) Intention to Move in the Future. Five major hypotheses were tested. This study was designed as a quantitative study, using a self-administered questionnaire administered by an online survey company. Between February 2, 2012 and February 4, 2012, a total of 431 usable surveys for this study were collected. Several statistical methods were employed: descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, crosstabs, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and structural equation model (SEM). From EFA, three major reasons for moving into current housing (the multifamily living reason, the nearby activities reason, and the financial reason), and three residential satisfaction factors (satisfaction with the unit design, the multifamily community, and the location) were derived. Multifamily living reason significantly positively influenced satisfaction with the unit design, the multifamily community, and the location. There was a significant influence of the nearby activities reason only on satisfaction with the location. Financial reason significantly negatively influenced satisfaction with the unit design, the multifamily community, and the location. Satisfaction with the unit design and the multifamily community significantly negatively related to the intention to move. The findings from this study can help older adults and their advisors to better understand the housing decision-making process in later life, and inform the housing industry about the perceived potential benefits and challenges in developing multifamily housing for older adults. / Ph. D.

Yes / Daily physical activity is vital for the health and development of children. However, many children are inactive. Previous attempts to achieve sustained increases in daily physical activity in children have been ineffective. Join Us: Move Play (JU:MP) is a whole-system, complex, community-based intervention aiming to increase the physical activity levels of children aged 7 to 11 years who live in areas of Bradford, England, which are multicultural and have high levels of deprivation. The purpose of this quasiexperimental controlled trial is to assess whether the JU:MP program increases primary school children's physical activity. The study has a 2-arm, quasiexperimental, nonblinded, nonequivalent group design and will be conducted with primary school children aged 5 to 11 years at 3 timepoints, including baseline (before intervention), 24 months (during intervention), and 36 months (after intervention). Children attending primary schools within the intervention area will be invited to participate. Children attending similar schools within similar neighborhoods based on school and community census demographics (deprivation, free school meals, and ethnicity) outside of the JU:MP geographical area will be invited to participate in the control condition. At each timepoint, consenting participants will wear an accelerometer for 7 consecutive days (24 hours a day) to measure the primary outcome (average daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity). Multivariable mixed effects linear regression will be applied to estimate differences in the primary outcome between the 2 arms at 24 months and 36 months on an intention-to-treat basis. The secondary outcome analysis will explore changes in socioemotional well-being (teacher reported), quality of life (parental/carer reported), and other contextual factors (parents/carer reported), as well as segments of the day activity, sleep, sedentary screen time, frequency of places to be active, parent practices (nondirective support and autonomy support), social cohesion, and neighborhood walking/exercise environment. Recruitment occurred from July 2021 to March 2022, and baseline data were collected from September 2021 to March 2022. As of March 2022 (end of baseline data collection), a total of 1454 children from 37 schools (17 intervention schools and 20 control schools) have been recruited. The first follow-up data collection will occur from September 2023 to March 2024, and the second and final follow-up data collection will occur from September 2024 to March 2025. Data analysis has not begun, and the final results will be published in December 2025. This article describes the protocol for a quasiexperimental controlled trial examining a novel whole-system intervention. ISRCTN ISRCTN14332797; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN14332797. DERR1-10.2196/43619.

Satellite communication is a widely known method for communicating with remote or disaster-strickenplaces. Sometimes, thecommunication can be a matter of life and death,and it is thus vital that it works well. For two-way communication (such as internet) it is necessary for the antenna on Earth to point towards the satellite with a pointing error not larger than a few tenths of a degree. For example, regulations decided by the authorities in the U.S. forbid pointing errors larger than 0.5°. In some cases the antenna on Earth has to be moving while satellite communication is maintained. Such cases can be when the antenna is mounted to a vehicle, and the antenna thus has to compensate for the vehicle’s movement in order to point at the satellite. This application of satellite communication is called Satcom on the Move (SOTM). By constructing a Simulink model of an entire SOTM-system, including vehicle dynamics, satellite position, signal behavior, sensors, and actuators, different control strategies can be compared. This thesis compares the performance of an H2- and an LQG-controller for a static initial acquisition case, and a dynamic inertial stabilization case. The static initial acquisition case is performed with a search algorithm (SpiralSearch) aiming to find the satellite signalin the shortest possible time for a given initial pointing error. The dynamic inertial stabilization case is performed by allowing the simulated vehicle to drive in a slalom pattern and over uneven grounds. The controllers are designed based on modern control theory.The conclusion of this thesis is that the H2-controller performs slightly better in the static testcase,whereastheLQG-controller performs slightly better in the dynamic test cases. However, the results are greatly influenced by the tuning of the controllers, meaning that the comparison is not necessarily true for the controllers rather than the tuning parameters. / Satellitkommunikation är en allmänt känd metod för att kommunicera med avlägsna eller katastrofdrabbade platser. Ibland kan kommunikationen vara en fråga om liv och död, och det är därför viktigt att den fungerar bra. För tvåvägskommunikation (som internet) är det nödvändigt att antennen på jorden pekar mot satelliten med ett pekfel som inte är större än några tiondels grader. Exempelvis finns det lagar i USA som förbjuder pekfel större än 0,5°. I vissa fall måste antennen på jorden röra sig medan satellitkommunikation upprätthålls. Sådana fall kan vara när antennen är monterad på ett fordon och antennen således måste kompensera för fordonets rörelse för att peka mot satelliten. Denna applikation av satellitkommunikation kallas Satcom on the Move(SOTM). Genom att konstruera en simulinkmodell av ett fullständigt SOTM-system, inklusive fordonsdynamik, satellitposition, signalbeteende, sensorer och ställdon, kan olika reglerstrategier jämföras. Denna avhandling jämför en H2 - och en LQG-regulator för ett statiskt fall, samt ett dynamiskt fall. Det statiska fallet utförs med en sökalgoritm (spiralsökning) som syftar till att hitta en specifik satellitsignal på kortast möjliga tid för ett givet initialt pekfel. Det dynamiska fallet utförs genom att låta det simulerade fordonet köra i slalommönster och på ojämnt underlag. Regulatorerna är designade baserade på modern kontrollteori.  Slutsatsen av denna avhandling är att H2-regulatorn presterar något bättre i det statiska testfallet, medan LQG-regulatorn presterar något bättre i de dynamiska testfallen. Resultaten påverkas emellertid kraftigt av de designade reglerparametrarna, vilket innebär att jämförelsen inte nödvändigtvis är sann för kontrollerna, utan snarare förde specifika reglerparametrarna.

This paper describes an alternative approach to the teaching of concepts related to the English Curriculum. It combines a shift in the theory of school teaching with psychological theory development. This research was conducted at a private, Catholic Secondary School in Johannesburg over a period of almost six months with a class of twenty Grade Ten students. The research was designed in response to the fact that many traditional, ‘rote’ teaching methods are not effective in the classroom and that an alternative needs to be found. This research aimed at testing the theories of the Sociohistorical school in order to ascertain whether they could provide clues as to methods that might be more conducive to real learning. Vygotsky’s (1978) theoretical construct of the Zone of Proximal Development, Hedegaard’s (1996) idea of a ‘double move’ and the ideas posited by Wells (1996, 1999) and Tharp and Gallimore (1988, 1992) form the theoretical basis for these ‘alternative’ teaching methods. The results shown in this paper indicate that a ‘double move’ is possible within the context of the English classroom and that the ideas of the Socio-historical school indeed provide an alternative method that is far more successful than those traditionally used in most classrooms.

O objetivo deste trabalho é reduzir o efeito do atrito estático em malhas de controle. A não-linearidade inserida por esse fenômeno pode diminuir a eficiência de um controlador PID e até tornar o sistema em malha fechada oscilatório. Para minimizar esse problema, são testados compensadores presentes na literatura e que não necessitam de modelos internos, os quais, em princípio, podem ser implementados em CLPs e SDCDs com facilidade. Apesar dos compensadores não utilizarem um modelo da válvula em seu algoritmo, é necessário conhecer a magnitude do atrito para parametrizá-los. Por este motivo, os primeiros tópicos desta dissertação são sobre modelos de atrito e técnicas para estimar seus parâmetros. Após estes tópicos, são introduzidos os compensadores de atrito. Alguns dos métodos avaliados foram modificados para tentar aprimorar os resultados. Apesar da teoria poder ser aplicada para uma grande diversidade de processos, os algoritmos foram aplicados a uma malha de controle de vazão de água utilizando válvulas de controle. O objetivo assumido é minimizar o ITAE (Integral Time Absolute Error) e o desgaste gerado nos equipamentos, devido à movimentação excessiva da haste da válvula. Também se verifica o tempo de subida do sistema em malha fechada. Além de testar os compensadores em uma malha de controle de vazão, também foram realizados testes com os compensadores em uma malha de controle de posição, que por sua vez recebe o set-point de uma malha de controle de vazão (controle em cascata). Os resultados mostram que, utilizando os compensadores, é possível que uma válvula com alto índice de atrito apresente um desempenho próximo ao de uma válvula com baixo índice de atrito sem compensação, ou seja, foi possível compensar o atrito na haste. / The aim of this work is to reduce the effect of the static friction in control loops. The non-linearity inserted by this phenomenon may decrease the efficiency of a PID controller and even make the closed loop system oscillatory. To minimize this problem some compensation methods present in the literature that do not require internal models were tested, which, theoretically, can be easily implemented in a PLC or DCS. Even thought the compensation methods do not require internal models, it is necessary to know the friction magnitude in order to set their parameters. With that in mind, the first topics of this dissertation friction models and how to identify their parameters. After these topics the friction compensation methods are introduced. Some of these methods where modified, with the purpose of improving the results. Although the theory may be applied to a great variety of process, these algorithms were applied to a water flow control loop using control valves. The assumed objective is to minimize the ITAE (Integral Time Absolut Error) and the wearing of the equipments due to excessive movement of the valve stem. The rising time of the closed loop system is also verified. Besides testing these compensation methods in a flow control loop, they were also tested in a position control loop, that receives its set-point from a flow control loop (cascade control).

Many multiplayer games feature teams, and whether they are pitted against each other or against the game itself it seems likely that the way these teams bond will affect the players' experience. What are the factors that influence the experience of being a team member in a game? To what extent can the game designer manipulate the cohesion of the teams by changing the game design? How does the satisfaction of the player with their team relate to their feeling of cohesion? How does cohesion differ between tabletop and online games? These issues become particularly important where the group dynamic is central to the desired outcome of the game e.g. educational games aiming to place the players in specific social situations. Four studies were conducted on four similar simulation games (two tabletop, two online) used for teaching in International Development Studies. These games explore farming in sub-Saharan Africa and require 12-30 players to play in small groups. The group dynamics are important for the learning outcomes. Similar groups of participants (all students of International Development Studies) played one game each. Each group played for 3 hours before completing a questionnaire about their experience and wrapping up with a full-group reflective discussion. Results from the two tabletop games suggested that, as expected, altering the rules of the game manipulated levels of team cohesion. However, the lack of significant result from the two online games suggests that careful design is required to achieve the same outcomes in the online environment. This suggests that seemingly small changes between tabletop and online implementations may impact the game play experience in unanticipated ways. The team cohesion reported by the players was found to correlate strongly with the team member satisfaction levels of the players. The gender composition of the teams was shown to have a large impact on both team cohesion and team member satisfaction: having one or more females in the group significantly increased both measures.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:32:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTA Odepsito.pdf: 1092207 bytes, checksum: b5cf007e911548e1f7a06e262210a383 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-06-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Initially this work looked for through the analysis of Sent Correspondences, Occupations, Proceedingses, Annals of the Camera and Newspapers of Time to evidence the process of extinction of the servile element in the county of Ceará unchained by the societies libertadoras, specifically the society Perseverance and Future and Society From Ceará Libertadora. The partner-political and economic context was demonstrated in that they appear, as well as the factors that facilitated the county of Ceará to be the first to free its slaves four years before the Empire, on March 25, 1884. Soon after analyzing, mainly, Actions of Freedom, the important paper was evidenced that had the law 2040 of September 28, 1871 for the juridical direction of slaves' freedom in Brazil. It was sought starting from the parliamentary embates to notice the social experiences of the system escravista vivenciados for gentlemen and slaves and to relate them to the projects of direction of a free society. It is finally it analyzed and he/she/it discussed some literary works written in Brazil, mainly, in Ceará, starting from the second half of the century XIX that were about the condition of the African and afro-descending. Focalizou-if specifically poetries and romances of romantic-naturalistic character. / Inicialmente este trabalho buscou, através da análise de Correspondências Expedidas, Ofícios, Atas, Anais da Câmara e Periódicos de Época, evidenciar o processo de extinção do elemento servil na província do Ceará desencadeado pelas sociedades libertadoras, especificamente a sociedade Perseverança e Porvir e Sociedade Cearense Libertadora. Demonstrou-se o contexto sócio-político e econômico em que elas surgiram, como também os fatores que possibilitaram a província do Ceará ser a primeira a libertar seus escravos quatro anos antes do Império, no dia 25 de março de 1884. Em seguida analisando, principalmente, Ações de Liberdade, evidenciou-se o importante papel que teve a lei 2040 de 28 de setembro de 1871 para o encaminhamento jurídico de liberdade de escravos no Brasil. Procurou-se a partir dos embates parlamentares perceber as experiências sociais do sistema escravista, vivenciado por senhores e escravos, relacionando essas experiências aos projetos de encaminhamento de uma sociedade livre. E finalmente analisou e discutiu alguns trabalhos literários escritos no Brasil, principalmente no Ceará, a partir da segunda metade do século XIX, que trataram da condição do africano e do afro-descendente. Focalizou-se especificamente poesias e romances de caráter romântico e naturalista.

Clustering is the process in which data is differentiated, classified according to some criteria. As a result of partitioning process, data is grouped into clusters for specific purpose. In a social network, clustering of people is one of the most popular problems. Therefore, we mainly concentrated on finding an efficient algorithm for this problem. In our study, data is made up of two types of entities (e.g., people, groups vs. political issues, religious beliefs) and distinct from most previous works, signed weighted bipartite graphs are used to model relations among them. For the partitioning criterion, we use the strength of the opinions between the entities. Our main intention is to partition the data into k-clusters so that entities within clusters represent strong relationship. One such example from a political domain is the opinion of people on issues. Using the signed weights on the edges, these bipartite graphs can be partitioned into two or more clusters. In political domain, a cluster represents strong relationship among a group of people and a group of issues. After partitioning, each cluster in the result set contains like-minded people and advocated issues. Our work introduces a general mechanism for k-way partitioning of signed bipartite graphs. One of the great advantages of our thesis is that it does not require any preliminary information about the structure of the input dataset. The idea has been illustrated on real and randomly generated data and promising results have been shown.

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In den vergangenen Jahren widmete sich eine stetig steigende Anzahl von Ausstellungen und Reenactments der Vergegenwärtigung und Re-Vision der Geschichte von Performance-Kunst und integrierte Aufführungen in diesen Kontext. Sie sind beweglicher Umgang mit den Performance-Archiven. Sie aktualisieren die Frage nach dem Charakter der Artefakte, auf die sich alte und neue Erzählungen zu und über Geschichte(n) der Performance beziehen und thematisieren ihre Lesbarkeit in je neuen Zusammenhängen. Wie in der Bewegungsspur, die den Zuschauern angeboten wird, Zugänge eröffnet werden, wird anhand von Ausstellungsbeispielen untersucht.