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The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach in the concept and implementation of autonomous micro‐spacecraft. The one true “artificial agent” approach to autonomy requires the micro‐spacecraft to interact in a direct manner with the environment through the use of sensors and actuators. As such, little computational effort is required to implement such an approach, which is clearly of great benefit for limited micro‐satellites. Rather than using complex world models, which have to be updated, the agent is allowed to exploit the dynamics of its environment for cues as to appropriate actions to achieve mission goals. The particular artificial agent implementation used here has been borrowed from studies of biological systems, where it has been used successfully to provide models of motivation and opportunistic behaviour. The so‐called “cue‐deficit” action selection algorithm considers the micro‐spacecraft to be a non‐linear dynamical system with a number of observable states. Using optimal control theory rules are derived which determine which of a finite repertoire of behaviours the satellite should select and perform. The principal benefits of this approach is that the micro‐spacecraft is endowed with self‐sufficiency, defined here to be the ability to achieve mission goals, while never placing itself in an irrecoverable position.

This study extends research on one of the most frequently cited school leadership frameworks by examining the psychometric properties of the instrument designed to assess many of the practices included in that framework.

Using data collected from 1,401 teachers the study examined the instrument’s measurement invariance, score reliabilities, as well as construct and predictive validities. Polytomous latent trait models (Many-Facet Rasch model), scale and principal component analysis using second-order Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)-Path modelling were used for these purposes.

Findings report levels of score reliability and valid score inferences. Results concerning the predictive validity of the instrument indicate a complex set of relations among the domains of leadership practices measured by the instrument, variables selected as mediators of leaders’ influence, and their direct and indirect effects on student learning.

This study provides researchers with a reliable and valid instrument for use in their future research. Data for the study were provided by elementary teachers in one US state. The extent to which results of the instrument are valid across different cultural and organizational settings remains to be determined.

Leadership developers may find the instrument useful for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of those participating in their programs while leaders themselves many find the instrument useful for self-diagnosis.

This study contributes to the development of school leadership measures by including Rasch modeling among the methods used for examining the instrument’s psychometric properties.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate political activity (CPA) are two important components of firms’ nonmarket strategies, oriented toward shaping the firm’s political and social conditions. Although this is acknowledged in the literature, there are contradictory arguments and evidence, concerning, first, whether and under which conditions firms align their CPA and CSR activities, and second, what the impacts might be if they do align these activities. In light of this, this chapter draws from earlier reviews of nonmarket strategies, to explore the factors at multiple levels, macro and micro, that may drive a firm’s alignment of CPA and CSR. In doing so, we draw from management research to identify the macro- and micro-level factors that shape CPA and CSR alignment as CSR and CPA alignment research mostly focuses on outcomes rather than identifying the drivers of alignment. We develop a general model that integrates the macro- and micro-level discussions to make suggestions about where future research needs to go to increase understanding of when corporations will combine their CPA and CSR efforts and the merits of these efforts.

The most powerful and effective forces of hierarchizing are those that naturalize difference so that it is beyond dispute and something to be tacitly accepted. In the Classic Maya world, this “social speciation” was materialized and naturalized through a complex web of ritual practice, deity emulation, enhancement of body aesthetics, and the fabrication and possession of hypertrophic goods. The architecture of Classic Maya royal courts broke with an older Maya residential pattern of accretional construction filled with ancestral burials in order to materialize more effectively social difference, to provide space for exclusive ritual performance, and to showcase the highly valued and gendered labor of textile production. Such instruments of authority are “weapons of exclusion” that can be wielded to fend off assaults on hierarchy. From this perspective, informed by the ritual economy approach, the profound transformations of the 9th century in the Maya lowlands are considered an assault that was not defendable.

The purpose of this article is to put forward China’s Hanyu Pinyin word guanli as an academic basic term to the world.

GUANLI as an academic basic term, which holds multiple meanings of several English words, such as management, administration, governance, etc. As a basic term, GUANLI, derived several words, such as GUANLIOLOGY, GUANLIST/GUANLIER and GUANLIWORK/GUANLIJOB, to precisely and exactly convey the Chinese GUANLI ideas. It is the historical mission and opportunity for the authors to research and establish the Chinese School of Modern GUANLI Science (CSMGS).

It is inevitably necessary to build the combined Chinese–Western discourse system of GUANLI science (CCWDSGS). Some other research results of CSMGS are also presented in this paper.

It is needless to say that there are still lots of problems in China, including in the GUANLI field. These problems will gradually be solved in China’s reform and development that takes place continuously. New problems will come up while old problems are being solved and settled; problems producing in a loop, problems solving in a loop, this is the dialectics. The authors have full confidence in solving problems, as well as in China’s development and future.

Practice comes first and then it is followed by theory. The authors first have the “China Model”, followed by the “Chinese School” consequently. The “China Model” has already been there, and the “Chinese School” relies on the author’s proactive research and innovation. It is just the right time for the authors to study and create the CSMGS. This is the historical mission and opportunity awaited by contemporary Chinese.

This paper aims to present an analytical investigation of energy and exergy performance on a solar flat plate collector (SFPC) with Cu-CuO/water hybrid nanofluid, Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids as collector running fluids.

Heat transfer characteristics, pressure drop and energy and exergy efficiencies of SFPC working on these nanofluids are investigated and compared. In this study, a comparison is made by varying the mass flow rates and nanoparticle volume concentration. Thermophysical properties of hybrid nanofluids are estimated using distinctive correlations available in the open literature. Then, the influence of these properties on energy and exergy efficiencies of SFPC is discussed in detail.

Energy analysis reveals that by introducing the hybrid nanoparticles in water, the thermal conductivity of the working fluid is enhanced by 17.52 per cent and that of the individual constituents is enhanced by 15.72 and 15.35 per cent for Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids, respectively. This resulted in 2.16 per cent improvement in useful heat gain for hybrid nanofluid and 1.03 and 0.91 per cent improvement in heat gain for Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids, respectively. In line with the above, the collector efficiency increased by 2.175 per cent for the hybrid nanofluid and 0.93 and 1.05 per cent enhancement for Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids, respectively. Exergy analysis elucidates that by using the hybrid nanofluid, exergy efficiency is increased by 2.59 per cent, whereas it is 2.32 and 2.18 per cent enhancement for Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids, respectively. Entropy generation is reduced by 3.31, 2.35 and 2.96 per cent for Cu-CuO/water, Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids, respectively, as compared to water.

However, this is associated with a penalty of increment in pressure drop of 2.92, 3.09 and 2.74 per cent for Cu-CuO/water, Cu/water and CuO/water nanofluids, respectively, compared with water.

It is clear from the analysis that Cu-CuO/water hybrid nanofluids possess notable increment in both energy and exergy efficiencies to use them in SFPCs.