Army Combat Cloth Face Cover

Symposium Student Poster ShowThe Army Combat Cloth Face Covering (CCFC) effort was initiated in response to the SECDEF memorandum signed April 5, 2020, subject: DoD Guidance on the Use of Cloth Face Coverings. In the memorandum, the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) committed to implementing all measures necessary to mitigate risks to the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The memorandum signed by the SECDEF directed that all individuals on Department of Defense (DoD) property, installations, and facilities should wear a face covering when they were unable to maintain the proper social distance in public areas or work centers. Program Executive Office Soldier was directed by the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology) to identify contracting sources that could manufacture face coverings on an expedited timeline. The purpose of this study is to identify the acquisition strategy for the Army’s CCFC program. The goal is to determine if the pursued acquisition process was the most proficient approach in terms of cost, schedule, and performance. This research identifies the Army’s acquisition approach, policies, and procedures and provides recommendations on how to improve similar requirements in the future.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Stabilized high-power laser system for the gravitational wave detector advanced LIGO

An ultra-stable, high-power cw Nd:YAG laser system, developed for the ground-based gravitational wave detector Advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), was comprehensively characterized. Laser power, frequency, beam pointing and beam quality were simultaneously stabilized using different active and passive schemes. The output beam, the performance of the stabilization, and the cross-coupling between different stabilization feedback control loops were characterized and found to fulfill most design requirements. The employed stabilization schemes and the achieved performance are of relevance to many high-precision optical experiments

A Pneumatically Actuated Manipulandum for Neuromotor Control Research

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques have great potential for identifying which neural structures are involved in the control of goal-directed reaching movements. However, fMRI techniques alone are not capable of probing the neural mechanisms involved in acquisition of novel motor behaviors because such studies require that the moving limb be perturbed in a controlled fashion. We outline a plan to design and develop a non-metallic, pneumatically actuated tool that, along with systems identification techniques and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), will characterize and quantify how the human central nervous system uses sensory information during practice-based motor learning

The Dynamic Effects of Subconscious Goal Pursuit on Resource Allocation, Task Performance, and Goal Abandonment

We test two potential boundary conditions for the effects of subconscious goals—the nature of the goal that is activated (achievement vs. underachievement) and conscious goal striving. Subconscious achievement goals increase the amount of time devoted to skill acquisition, and this increase in resource allocation leads to higher performance when conscious goals are neutral. However, specific conscious goals undermine the performance benefits of subconscious achievement goals. Subconscious underachievement goals cause individuals to abandon goal pursuit and this effect is mediated by task performance. Difficult conscious goals neutralize the detrimental effects of subconscious underachievement goals but only if implemented before performance is undermined. Overall, these results suggest that subconscious achievement goals facilitate task performance, subconscious underachievement goals trigger goal abandonment, and difficult conscious goals moderate these effects depending on the level of resource allocation and timing of goal implementation

5-HT6R Viral Vector-Mediated Indirect Pathway Activation in the Dorsolateral Striatum: A Discussion on Basal Ganglia Habitual and Goal-Directed Circuits

Altering maladaptive behavioral tendencies is relevant for clinical interventions, making research on underlying mechanisms of habit essential. Mechanisms of habit are explored here with differential activation of the indirect pathway in the basal ganglia. Viral vector-mediated overexpression of the 5-hydroxytryptamine 6 (5-HT6) receptor in the indirect pathway of the dorsolateral striatum was used to increase indirect pathway activity. Subjects were trained such that control animals were expected to exhibit habitual behavior. We hypothesized increased activation of the indirect pathway would maintain goal-directed behavior. To test this hypothesis female rats were assigned to 5-HT6 receptor upregulation or control groups in a reward devaluation behavior paradigm to assess habitual behavior. Although our results do not show anticipated behavioral results following reward devaluation, a lack of statistical power due to small sample sizes does not allow conclusions to be reached

The case for the development of novel human skills capture methodologies

As the capabilities of industrial automation are growing, so is the ability to supplement or replace the more tacit, cognitive skills of manual operators. Whilst models have been published within the human factors literature regarding automation implementation, they neglect to discuss the initial capture of the task and automation experts currently lack a formal tool to assess feasibility. The definition of what is meant by "human skill" is discussed and three crucial theoretical underpinnings are proposed for a novel, automation-specific skill capture methodology: emphasis upon procedural rules, emphasis upon action-facilitating factors and taxonomy of skill

A syntactic-semantic analysis of English (non)-dativizable constructions in the production of a set of 2L1 English/Spanish simultaneous bilingual twins

This paper analyzes the syntactico-semantic factors which trigger Dative shift in English dativizable verbs, i.e. those verbs that allow alternation between double object and prepositional complement constructions. It also focuses on non-dativizable verbs that restrict their subcategorization framework to either double object or prepositional complement constructions. This syntactico-semantic relation between dativizable and nondativizable structures is addressed in acquisition by examining the incidence for the two verb types in a set of English/Spanish 2L1 bilingual twins. Our results show that the syntactic and semantic features that dativizable and non-dativizables present go hand in hand with the age of first occurrence and the language development of the participants. Hence, dativizable to-dative double object constructions (DOC) are the utterances produced the earliest at the age of 2, as opposed to dativizable to/for-datives and non-dativizable constructions, which begin to emerge at around the age of 3. Finally, our results also suggest that the high adult input frequency explains the twins' early production of dativizable structures and that, in the same way, the children's low exposure to non-dativizable utterances correlates with the later occurrence in the twins' spontaneous production.peer-reviewe

TDRSS S-shuttle unique receiver equipment

Beginning with STS-9, the Tracking and Date Relay Satellite system (TDRSS) will start providing S- and Ku-band communications and tracking support to the Space Shuttle and its payloads. The most significant element of this support takes place at the TDRSS White Sands Ground Terminal, which processes the Shuttle return link S- and Ku-band signals. While Ku-band hardware available to other TDRSS users is also applied to Ku-Shuttle, stringent S-Shuttle link margins have precluded the application of the standard TDRSS S-band processing equipment to S-Shuttle. It was therfore found necessary to develop a unique S-Shuttle Receiver that embodies state-of-the-art digital technology and processing techniques. This receiver, developed by Motorola, Inc., enhances link margins by 1.5 dB relative to the standard S-band equipment and its bit error rate performance is within a few tenths of a dB of theory. An overview description of the Space Shuttle Receiver Equipment (SSRE) is presented which includes the presentation of block diagrams and salient design features. Selected, measured performance results are also presented