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The proliferation of nuclear weapons is a great threat to world peace and stability. The question of strengthening the nonproliferation regime has been open for a long period of time. In 1997 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors (BOG) adopted the Additional Safeguards Protocol. The purpose of the protocol is to enhance the IAEA’s ability to detect undeclared production of fissile materials in member states. However, the IAEA does not always have sufficient human and financial resources to accomplish this task. Developed here is a concept for making use of human and technical resources available in academia that could be used to enhance the IAEA’s mission. The objective of this research was to study the feasibility of an academic community using commercially or publicly available sources of information and products for the purpose of detecting covert facilities and activities intended for the unlawful acquisition of fissile materials or production of nuclear weapons. In this study, the availability and use of commercial satellite imagery systems, commercial computer codes for satellite imagery analysis, Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)verification International Monitoring System (IMS), publicly available information sources such as watchdog groups and press reports, and Customs Services information were explored. A system for integrating these data sources to form conclusions was also developed. The results proved that publicly and commercially available sources of information and data analysis can be a powerful tool in tracking violations in the international nuclear nonproliferation regime and a framework for implementing these tools in academic community was developed. As a result of this study a formation of an International Nonproliferation Monitoring Academic Community (INMAC) is proposed. This would be an independent organization consisting of academics (faculty, staff and students) from both nuclear weapon states (NWS) and non-nuclear weapon states (NNWS). This community analyzes all types of unclassified publicly and commercially available information to aid in detection of violations of the non-proliferation regime. INMAC shares all of this information with the IAEA and the public. Since INMAC is composed solely by members of the academic community, this organization would not demonstrate any biases in its investigations or reporting.

Many efforts have been conducted for improving the operation and management of open channel networks. Implementing simulation models and software is an effective step in achieving better operation of control structures in open channel networks. The purpose of this study was to develop a tool in ArcGIS for assisting the open channel network managers in operating flow control structures. This model presents a time schedule for gate operation based on the demands at turnouts through the water usage schedule of the network. The developed model was designed to be added as a tool to ArcToolbox in ArcGIS. Any ArcGIS user who has access to ArcView or ArcInfo can add this tool to ArcToolbox. Using ArcGIS Geoprocessing tools, ModelBuilder, Scripting and ArcToolbox tools, the proposed model, "Arc-Canal", was created. Arc-Canal is implementable for irrigation networks that open channel network are digitized in ArcGIS. Simulation is for the gravity flow in open channels without any pump in the network. Calculations are based on steady flow. All hydraulic calculations for water level, gates, and weirs are based on the methods defined in "Open-Channel Hydraulics" (Chow 1959). Most of the available flow simulation models are complicated individual software for which user needs to be trained to install and use it. Also most of these software are not free accessible. Arc-Canal is an easy to use tool that anyone with the knowledge of working with ArcGIS can run it. By adding the tool to ArcToolbox and following the described naming method, and entering the required data, model is ready to run. The developed model is a free access tool. Most of the channels in open channel networks in south Texas have mild bottom slope and flow is steady gravity flow. It is desired that the developed model will be a tool to assist irrigation districts in south Texas.

The main purposes of the study were to (A) analyze the relationships between teachers¡¦ demongraphic variables, professional growth motivation and their implement of open education, and (b) to investigate the relationships between teachers¡¦ implement of open education and their pupils¡¦ critical- and creative-thinking abilities. The participants included 101 teachers and 556 students in elementary schools from kaosiung city and Tainan city. This is a two-stage study. The instruments employed at the first stage were The Appraisal of Teaching for Elementary School Teachers and The Questionnaire for Teachers¡¦ Professional Growth, and those employed at the second stage were the revised edition of the Test of Critical-thinking Skills for Primary and Secondary school Students and the new edition of the Test of Creative Thinking. The applied analysis methods included descriptive statistics, Hotelling¡¦s T2, multivariate analysis of variance, and multiple stepwise regression. The results of the study were as follows: 1. The teachers¡¦ teaching experience had positive effects on their implement of open education. 2. The teacher who graduated from general universities did not have higher degree of implementing open education than those who graduated from normal universities. 3. The teachers¡¦ professional growth motivation had positive effects on their implement of open education. 4. The teachers¡¦ experiences of participating workshops about open education had positive effects on their implement of open education, while their experiences of general in-service study had not. 5. The teachers¡¦ professional growth motivation, experiences of participating workshops of open education, and experiences of in-service study could effectively predict their degree of implementing open education. 6. The teachers¡¦ degree of implementing open education had positive effects on their students¡¦ critical- and creative-thinking abilities.

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China has experienced the rapid socioeconomic change that leads to the evolution of social and physical environment in urban neighborhoods. In recently built neighborhoods, residents lack mutual trust and a sense of community; the neighborhood open spaces have been improved but still do not function well for developing resident social capital. Social capital is a comprehensive concept for evaluating community development. The purpose of this study was to evaluate residents’ social capital in China’s urban context and to examine the relationships between social capital and neighborhood open spaces. The review of literature identified five interpersonal factors of social capital: social network, trust, security and safety, belongingness, and engagement, which were related to neighborhood physical environment. In the city of Guangzhou, two neighborhoods were selected as study fields and two hundred and fifty subjects were randomly selected in each neighborhood to participate in a questionnaire survey. More than 75% subjects returned questionnaires. Ten residents of them then participated in semi-structured interviews. Observation recorded residents’ activities in open spaces. Data were analyzed by statistical methods and domain analysis strategy. The results of statistical examinations demonstrated that residents living with a large number of neighborhood open spaces had higher degrees of social capital than residents lacking open spaces; residents using open spaces frequently developed higher degrees of social capital than residents using open spaces less; residents who were satisfied with their open spaces held higher degrees of social capital than those who were not satisfied with open spaces. Semi-structured interviews explained that well-designed open spaces attracted inhabitants to participate in outdoor activities, which encouraged social interaction among residents, enhanced their mutual trust, expanded social network, and strengthened belongingness to neighborhood. However, open spaces were found not to obviously improve resident engagement. Observations unveiled that a highly versatile and flexible outdoor space was the favorite place for residents of all ages.

In this study, copper metals were used to fabricate five different flow field plates with various open ratios using MEMS technology. Five samples were prepared for experiments with rib width varying as 150, 200, 300, 450, and 600 £gm at a fixed channel width (300 £gm). The open ratio of flow field plates was varied from 60.0% to 37.9%. Experiments with different operating parameters of anode/cathode pressure drop, cell operating temperature, and gas backpressure were conducted. Furthermore, a simple lumped capacitance model was used to predict the temperature evolution of the fuel cell system. Then, the optimum flow field design and cell operating parameters were finally found. Based on the aforementioned experiments an optimal open ratio ofunity was found like 49.2%. Further, an optimal open ratio in terms of the net power gain factor (= power gain/power consumption) of 38.7% can be obtained for the cases under study. Durability and reliability for copper bipolar plate were examined for long range tests (each run with at least 5 hours duration for consecutive two months). This strongly suggests that copper sheets can be considered as one of possible candidates for flow field material.

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Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.