Suchergebnisse

Hirschi's (1969) control theory has received much empirical support and, as a consequence, has become one of the dominant theories of delinquency. Virtually all tests of the theory, however, have been conducted with cross‐sectional data. This is a serious problem since there is good reason to believe that delinquency may have a causal impact on social control. This paper describes a longitudinal test of Hirschi's theory using panel data from a national sample of adolescent boys. Data indicate that the social control variables explain only 1%‐2% of the variance in future delinquency, suggesting that cross‐sectional studies have exaggerated the importance of Hirschi's theory. Possible reasons for the small longitudinal effect of the control variables are discussed.

Personal control over one's work environment is an important theme in many branches of the social sciences. In the present study, longitudinal field data were used to assess a model of personal control in organizational settings. Business school graduates completed questionnaires prior to graduation and after 4 months (n = 297) and 10 months (n = 231) on the job. The results suggest two distinct responses to perceived personal control. The first implies a proactive orientation where control begets control: self-efficacy was positively associated with control, both variables were positively associated with problem-focused reactance, control and reactance were both negatively related to helplessness, and helplessness was negatively related to work adjustment. The second response to personal control implies a reactive orientation where unmet expectations prompt a sense of futility and withdrawal: control was negatively associated with unmet expectations, and unmet expectations were positively associated with helplessness and negatively associated with work adjustment.

A relationship between finger gnosia and numerical abilities has been well documented in the literature. It has been shown for example that five- to six-year-old children arithmetic capacities are better predicted by their results to finger discrimination tests than by more classic intelligence tests. One possible explanation to account for this relationship is that early finger counting constitutes the foundation of more developed mathematical abilities. The object of the current project is to go further in the examination of the relationship between numbers and fingers.
To do so, basic and more complex numerical abilities will be examined in children with cerebral palsy of normal intelligence. Those children, who present motor deficits, have the characteristic to have more or less difficulties in using their fingers. Through a transversal and longitudinal approach, 5- to 14-year-old diplegic, hemiplegic and quadriplegic children will be assessed on their general cognitive abilities and their numerical abilities. If numerical abilities are indeed partly rooted in early finger use, they should be impaired in children with cerebral palsy. Moreover, the severity of the impairment should increase as a function of the difficulties children encounter in finger use. Children will be tested five times over 3 years and their performance will be compared to those of normal developing children. This will allow us to determine whether or not potential numerical lags in children with cerebral palsy increase or decrease across development.

The legal system of workers' self-management in Yugoslavia provides to all of the employees of each enterprise ultimate authority over basic policy, personnel, and technical issues of the firm. This study explores the "actual" and the "ideal" distribution of control in Yugoslav industrial organizations as reported by members during a five-year period, from 1969 through 1973. The data are based on questions administered at yearly intervals (excepting one year) to a probability sample of more than 3,000 persons in 100 organizations. Because important legal changes in the direction of greater participation in the governance of Yugoslav organizations were introduced immediately prior to and during this period, we expected to find some change in the distribution of control during the five years of the study. The data fit a pattern that has been found in other countries, thus illustrating principles that may transcend culture and political system. The data also differ in degree from those of other places thus also illustrating the impact of the unique legal system or organizational control in Yugoslavia. Furthermore, the data seem to be characterized more by stability than by change during the five years of the study. If change has occurred it appears to have occurred more with respect to the expectations or "ideals" of respondents than with regard to their perception of the realities of control in their organization. We none-theless assume, partly on the basis of these data and of those from studies in other countries, that substantial change in distribution of control has occurred since before the Yugoslav revolution and that a process of evolution in the distribution of control is continuing. We offer a hypothesis about this process. In addition, because we rely on the judgment of organization members for our measure of control, we present data that may shed some light on the meaning of the concept of control to these persons and therefore on the degree of correspondence between their implicit definition of control and our own.

AbstractHawley's influential resource control theory (RCT) posits that both coercive and prosocial strategies may yield social dominance, as indexed by resource control. Based on differences in youths' relative use of these strategies, RCT a priori defines five distinct subtypes. Several studies by Hawley and colleagues have revealed substantial differences between subtypes in terms of obtained resource control and various social characteristics (e.g., agreeableness). The present longitudinal study (N = 394; Mage = 10.3; SD = 0.5) expands on previous work. Firstly, because several items used to assess strategies in RCT appear to confound strategy use with the resulting benefits (resource control), we disentangled between strategy use as such and obtained resource control. Secondly whereas previous work has been exclusively cross‐sectional, the present study was longitudinal. ANOVAs comparing subgroups provided support for some core tenets of RCT, but not for others. For instance, bistrategic children scored high on both resource control and perceived popularity. However, bistrategics engaged in elevated bullying, and whereas Hawley asserts that they are proficient in balancing 'getting ahead' with 'getting along', their behavior appeared to evoke clear negative reactions in the peer group at large. Findings also showed that non‐controllers did not experience more negative outcomes than their peers across all domains.

In high-maneuvering missile systems, with severe restrictions on actuator energy requirements, it is desirable to achieve the required performance with least actuation effort. Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) has been in literature for long and has proven it's mettle as an optimal controller in many benign aerospace applications and industrial applications where the response times of the plant, in most cases, are seen to be greater than 10 seconds. It can be observed in the literature that LQR control methodology has not been explored enough in the tactical missile applications where requirement of very fast airframe response times are desired, typically of the order of milliseconds. In the present research, the applicability of LQR method for one such agile missile control has been critically explored. In the present research work, longitudinal dynamic model of an agile missile flying at high angle of attack regime has been established and an optimal LQR control solution has been proposed to bring out the required performance demanding least control actuator energy. A novel scheme has been presented to further optimise the control effort, which is essential in this class of missile systems with space and energy constraints, by iteratively computing optimal magnitude state weighing matrix Q and control cost matrix R. Pole placement design techniques, though extensively used in aerospace industry because of ease of implementation and proven results, do not address optimality of the system performance. Hence, a comparative study has been carried out to verify the results of LQR against pole placement technique based controller. The efficacy of LQR based controller over pole placement design techniques is successfully established with minimum control energy requirement in this paper. Futuristic high maneuvering, agile missile control design with severe space and energy constraints stand to benefit incorporating the controller design scheme proposed in this paper.