Thesis submitted in compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Durban University of Technology, 2008. / The development of an evolutionary optimisation method and its application to the design of an advanced composite structure is discussed in this study. Composite materials are increasingly being used in various fields, and so optimisation of such structures would be advantageous. From among the various methods available, one particular method, known as Evolutionary Structural Optimisation (ESO), is shown here. ESO is an empirical method, based on the concept of removing and adding material from a structure, in order to create an optimum shape. The objective of the research is to create an ESO method, utilising MSC.Patran/Nastran, to optimise composite structures. The creation of the ESO algorithm is shown, and the results of the development of the ESO algorithm are presented. A tailfin of an aircraft was used as an application example. The aim was to reduce weight and create an optimised design for manufacture. The criterion for the analyses undertaken was stress based. Two models of the tailfin are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed ESO algorithm. The results of this research are presented in the study.

Ce mémoire propose une analyse de la réaction des intellectuels faisant la promotion de la survivance intégrale du fait français en Nouvelle-Angleterre face à l'assimilation progressive des communautés franco-américaines, entre 1945 et 1978. Principal organe dédié à cette cause après la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, le contenu du journal Le Travailleur montre bien l'évolution de la perception des élites intellectuelles face à la progression du processus d'anglicisation du groupe. Du ton virulent et accusateur utilisé à la fin des années 1940 pour dénoncer les responsables de la situation qu’ils déplorent, les artisans du journal s'ouvrent progressivement aux débats et véhiculent au milieu des années 1950 des idées normalement défendues par les promoteurs d'une plus grande intégration à la société américaine. S’ils restent muets quant aux phénomènes structuraux qui affectent l'ensemble de la population américaine à mesure qu'avancent les Trente Glorieuses, les solutions mises de l’avant par les intellectuels de la survivance, centrées sur l’unité, l’identification d’un idéal à atteindre et la valorisation du passé par la commémoration, n’auront que bien peu d’impact face aux grandes tendances alors en cours. Autrement, après y avoir accordé bien peu d’attention depuis sa création en 1931, Le Travailleur dirige son regard vers un Québec en pleine effervescence au cours des années 1960, sans toutefois tirer profit du contexte favorable aux revendications des minorités culturelles américaines au cours des mêmes années. Une nouvelle élite, en marge des promoteurs traditionnels de la survivance, prendra la relève au cours des années 1970 dans l'espoir de générer une renaissance culturelle franco-américaine chez une population de laquelle Le Travailleur se sera montré, au final, complètement déconnecté.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / This paper discusses Global Positioning System (GPS) Range Applications Joint Program Office (RAJPO) efforts to foster interoperability between airborne instrumentation, virtual simulators, and constructive simulations using Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS). In the past, the testing and training communities developed separate airborne instrumentation systems primarily because available technology couldn't encompass both communities' requirements. As budgets get smaller, as requirements merge, and as technology advances, the separate systems can be used interoperably and possibly merged to meet common requirements. Using DIS to bridge the gap between the RAJPO test instrumentation system and the Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) training systems provides a defacto system-level interoperable interface while giving both communities the added benefits of interaction with the modeling and simulation world. The RAJPO leads the test community in using DIS. RAJPO instrumentation has already supported training exercises such as Roving Sands 95, Warfighter 95, and Combat Synthetic Test, Training, and Assessment Range (STTAR) and major tests such as the Joint Advanced Distributed Simulation (JADS) Joint Test and Evaluation (JT&E) program. Future efforts may include support of Warrior Flag 97 and upgrading the Nellis No-Drop Bomb Scoring Ranges. These exercises, combining the use of DIS and RAJPO instrumentation to date, demonstrate how a single airborne system can be used successfully to support both test and training requirements. The Air Combat Training System (ACTS) Program plans to build interoperability through DIS into existing and future ACMI systems. The RAJPO is committed to fostering interoperable airborne instrumentation systems as well as interfaces to virtual and constructive systems in the modeling and simulation world. This interoperability will provide a highly realistic combat training and test synthetic environment enhancing the military's ability to train its warfighters and test its advanced weapon systems.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / The United States is moving into a new era in which the enemy no longer provides symmetric opposition. The Navy and Marine Corps will face new challenges in the way they deploy and conduct future operations. One important way that these challenges will be met involves sea-based operations, which provide the sustainment necessary for prolonged operations and prevent unwanted operational pauses. Recent combat operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) demonstrated difficulties when sustaining forces from logistics bases ashore. For example, advancing the Army and Marines to Baghdad in OIF consumed large amounts of fuel and ammunition. The resupply could not replenish supplies and an operational pause began on 29 March, 2003. In order to prevent operational pauses, rapid movement from the sea to the objective must be implemented. This thesis analyzes the problem of finding an optimal mix of Combat Logistics Force shuttle ships required to sustain the sea-base. This is accomplished through two optimization models: The first one determines a shuttle mix ensuring required inventory levels at the sea-base are maintained at all times. Since this requirement may cause some shuttles to be loaded partially, in the second model we manually assign the shuttle mix and then minimize unmet demand. This model yields a mix of shuttles that strikes a balance between shuttle cost and meeting sea-base demand. This thesis uses varying distances for conducting analyses over several scenarios. / Captain, United States Marine Corps

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / This paper seeks to analyze the command and control issues arising from the advent of NCW. It aims to contribute to a practical understanding of the concept and an implementation approach for NCW by attempting to provide an analytical framework, the various options/models, and considerations across the spectrum of NCW issues. While information superiority is not a new concept, the blazing speed of advancement in information technologies has brought about dramatic changes to our lifestyles and profound changes in the conduct of modern warfare. This led to the birth of Network Centric Warfare (NCW). NCW offers great opportunities to dramatically enhance combat prowess by exploiting shared situational awareness, increased speed of command, improved systems' lethality and survivability, and greater flexibility achieved through self synchronization. However, these revolutionary changes do not depend on technology alone. In order to achieve the full promise of NCW, the entire span of elements ranging from organization, doctrine, and operational concepts to training must co-evolve. The success of NCW is dependent on aligning the organization's commitment, resources and efforts, fostering a learning and innovative culture, constructing a seamless, robust and secure infostructure, and establishing measures of effectiveness of C2. The journey to NCW is not a linear process, but rather a spiral developmental process. Continued evolution and efforts are required to shape and deliver the enhanced combat capability as the apex of maturity of the spiraling cone. / Lieutenant Colonel, Republic of Singapore Air Force

Modeling and representing combat and individual soldiers is a complex task. Several factors influence combatant behavior. Using non-lethal methods has become one way for combatant commanders to accomplish their wartime mission. Current the Army and Marine Corps models are not capable of non-lethal weapon replication. The Training and Doctrine Command Analysis Center (TRAC) Monterey California has funded a program of research related to individual combatant representation in modeling and simulation. Modeling non-lethal weapons was identified by TRAC-Monterey as important to better represent actual combat. This thesis used COMBATXXI , a high-resolution, closed-form, stochastic, analytical combat simulation, to replicate non-lethals and study the effects on individual combatants. Existing source code was modified to model the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), the non-lethal platform chosen for this research. LRAD is an acoustic device designed to modify the behavior of personnel with a high intensity warning tone. Once the LRAD capability was developed, a scenario was developed to test the simulated effects of the device. A model was developed to accurately determine behaviors of individual combatants. It was concluded that the implementation of this new non-lethal capability in COMBATXXI improved the model and created a more realistic representation of actual combat conditions.

Combat medics’ personal identities can become indistinguishable from the professional responsibility they have to provide care to a particular group, as a result of the official training and unofficial acculturation they receive in the military. This constructs an intensified moral world in which medics live for a time and sets the stage for a specific kind of moral experience in combat, one grounded in a sense of personal responsibility for the physical well-being of their comrades. When combat medics are unable to fulfill their professional role, this can cause a distinct form of moral trauma, because they have also failed to fulfill a personal sense of purpose.

The following thesis draws from a recent production assignment at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., in which I acted as Associate Fight Director under Broadway Fight Director Rick Sordelet. We worked on three shows in all: William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, and Christopher Marlowe's first play, Tamburlaine, and his last, Edward II. By analyzing and assessing the working methods utilized during this production process, I hope to elucidate the most effective elements, and finally synthesize the tenets of my own working method. Structurally, I will recount the experience chronologically, from preproduction to performance, treating the pros and cons in each section of production. As a movement designer, I am interested in choreographic methods that both draw organically from actor's impulses, and integrate acting choices immediately. Too often the acting work is left off until the end; the actors are expected to layer their choices onto a fight that was not choreographed with those choices in mind. Instead, I seek to articulate a working method that allows and guides actors towards physical engagement with specific objectives, and that enables actors to make active choices from the very beginning.

The name Bachelor: Members of the intervention unit of the Czech police and self-defense The objective of work: The aim of this work is to determine the actual state of subsidized hours of self-defense and martial arts at work, find out whether the members themselves consider the number of hours devoted to training and sufficient self-defense as compared with instructors who create clock, determine the number of hours devoted to self-defense and úpolovým members of sports in his spare time and to evaluate the most frequent suggestions to improve the concept of self- defense, both by members and instructors. Evaluate each intervention unit and the final is evaluated as a whole. The results then process and interpret research results. Method: Research of this thesis was carried out with the help of the survey, the research tool is a form of questionnaires. These questionnaires will be part of the thesis. Results: The research of this thesis gave the following results. Members evaluate the time spent in self-defense as an adequate job. Training in self-defense work in emergency units dedicated to two hours per week. In his spare time, he enjoys sports, self-defense and úpolovým 37 members surveyed, a majority of them. The most common consensus among members and instructors in the design to improve the...

Unmanned combat aircraft systems (UCAS) represent a certain type of modern technology the States use to counter the growing number of security threats coming from the various non-state actors. The thesis focuses on the most common use of UCAS in the fight against these threats, on the practice called targeted killing. The purpose of the thesis is to identify all conditions amongst the norms of international law pertaining to the use of force between States, international human rights law and international humanitarian law, which are relevant for the targeted killing through UCAS. Furthermore, the thesis seeks to set out the circumstances, under which this practice can satisfy the relevant conditions, and when, on the other hand, it is never lawful. The thesis is composed of four chapters. The First Chapter defines the key terms used in the thesis and clarifies the terminology relating to UCAS. It also offers a short overview of their technical specifications and capabilities and identifies the States, which own, develop and sell the technology. The following three chapters represent the analytical core of the thesis and set out the conditions for the use of UCAS found in three systems of international law. The Second Chapter examines the use of UCAS from the perspective of the prohibition on the...