The Federal Government recognizes that collaboration between the various departments and local, federal and private sector can best support maritime security. Of course the question is how to get these entities to collaborate? Collaborative technology can provide an answer to Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) and Emergency Response collaboration, but the right tool for this mission must be selected. In order for the right tool to be selected, then the right criteria must be used to evaluate the tool for this particular mission. The criteria must not only look at the tool or the network, but the whole picture: cognitive processes, organizational structure, and the doctrine and procedures of the players involved. This thesis will focus on establishing criteria for evaluating collaborative tools in the tactical environment of MDA and Emergency Response collaboration. In this environment, an Incident Commander will need to coordinate military, coalition, federal, state, local entities, as well as non-governmental organizations. A methodology does exist that meets these criteria, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Code of Best Practice for assessing Command and Control Systems.

An experiment was conducted to separate the effects of anxiety relief conditioning from other variables which may be operative within that paradigm. A review of the literature revealed that no definitive investigations had been conducted, and critiques of these investigations were offered. Also, the distinction between aversion relief and anxiety relief conditioning procedures was detailed.

During the two last decades, topology optimization has grown to be an accepted and used method to produce conceptual designs. Topology optimization is traditionally carried out on a component level, but in this project, the possibility to apply it to airframe design on a full scale aeroplane model is evaluated. The project features a conceptual flying-wing design on which the study is to be carried out. Inertia Relief is used to constrain the aeroplane instead of traditional single point constraints with rigid body motion being suppressed by the application of accelerations instead of traditional forces and moments. The inertia relief method utilized the inertia of the aeroplane to achieve a state of quasi-equilibrium such that static finite element analysis can be carried out. Two load cases are used: a steep pitch-up manoeuvre and a landing scenario. Aerodynamic forces are calculated for the pitch-up load case via an in-house solver, with the pressure being mapped to the finite element mesh via a Matlab-script to account for different mesh sizes. Increased gravitational loads are used in the landing load case to simulate the dynamic loading caused in a real landing scenario, which is unable to be accounted for directly in the topology optimization. It can be concluded that the optimization is unable to account for one of the major design limitations: buckling of the outer skin. Approaches to account for the buckling of the outer skin are introduced and analysed, with a focus on local compression constraints throughout the wing. The compression constraints produce some promising results but are not without major drawbacks and complications. In general, a one-step topology optimization to produce a mature conceptual airframe design is not possible with optimization algorithms today. It may be possible to adopt a multiple-step optimization approach utilizing topology optimization with following size and shape optimization to achieve a design, which could be expanded on in a future project.

The perceived lack of conclusive quantitative evidence on the macroeconomic effects of debt relief in low-income countries has generally blurred the image of debt relief efforts and left the issues of its effectiveness and efficiency open to debate and dispute. This thesis seeks to shed more light on the subject by providing some further empirical evidence. This objective is achieved by performing an empirical investigation of two effects of debt relief. First, the study examines the debt relief-new borrowing relationship in a multivariable regression framework. The results that emerge suggest that, on average, debt relief can be beneficial in reducing the future new borrowing of Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs). This conclusion, to some extent, is in line with the goals of HIPCs debt relief initiatives in reducing external debt burdens of those countries to sustainable levels. However, it presents a challenge to the views of William Easterly on the ???perverse incentive effects??? of ???continuing waves??? of debt relief that are said to lead to further debt accumulation of a similar magnitude to replace old cancelled debt. Second, the analysis explores the influence of debt relief on domestic investment behaviour in developing countries. Debt relief is found to have a positive effect on domestic investment in countries with good policy environments. This result suggests that debt relief would be more effective in promoting domestic investment if it were more cautiously conditioned on sound policy frameworks.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--München--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 1994. / Bibliogr. p. XI-XII. Notes bibliogr. Index.

Inaugural Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Köln, 1999. / Bibliogr. p. 224-245. Notes bibliogr.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Bonn--Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, 1998. / 2003 d'après le catalogue en ligne de l'éditeur. Bibliogr. p. [236]-238. Index.

Thesis (M.C.E.)--University of Delaware, 2009. / Principal faculty advisor: Earl E. Lee, II, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in M.E.)--School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. Directed by S.M. Jeter. / Bibliography: leaf 107.

This thesis examines the influence of certain British reformist ideologies on the scarcity-relief policies of the British colonial Government of Bombay from 1820 to 1840. It outlines the laissez-faire and utilitarian ideologies of relevance to scarcity-relief and assesses the extent to which these ideologies influenced Bombay’s policies toward the grain trade, charity, public works, agricultural loans, land revenue, and grain duties, during the 1823-5, 1831-5, and 1838-9 droughts. The thesis demonstrates that ideological debate and policy formation engaged officials at various levels within the colonial administration, and was not simply the concern of the Bombay Council. The thesis argues that while reformist ideologies had a genuine effect on the stated beliefs of many of Bombay’s officials, fiscal expediency and, to a lesser extent, humanitarian concern, also contributed to the formation of Bombay policy. It contends that these other factors were sometimes in harmony, and other times at odds, with the new ideologies coming from Britain. It finds that each of Bombay’s scarcity-relief policies was shaped by reformist ideology, but to a varying degree, and at different times, depending on the resistance to changes in policy from conservatives within the administration. This resistance, it argues, was in turn determined by the extent to which officials perceived each policy to be a foundation of the Government’s financial well-being. The findings of this thesis support the consensus among most historians of Indian subsistence crises that reformist ideologies of Britain began to influence the scarcity-relief policies of British Indian administrations in the early nineteenth century.