The National Dialogue on the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review

Six years after its creation, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) undertook the first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR) to inform the design and implementation of actions to ensure the safety of the United States and its citizens. This review, mandated by the Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007, represents the first comprehensive examination of the homeland security strategy of the nation. The QHSR includes recommendations addressing the long-term strategy and priorities of the nation for homeland security and guidance on the programs, assets, capabilities, budget, policies, and authorities of the department.Rather than set policy internally and implement it in a top-down fashion, DHS undertook the QHSR in a new and innovative way by engaging tens of thousands of stakeholders and soliciting their ideas and comments at the outset of the process. Through a series of three-week-long, web-based discussions, stakeholders reviewed materials developed by DHS study groups, submitted and discussed their own ideas and priorities, and rated or "tagged" others' feedback to surface the most relevant ideas and important themes deserving further consideration.Key FindingsThe recommendations included: (1) DHS should enhance its capacity for coordinating stakeholder engagement and consultation efforts across its component agencies, (2) DHS and other agencies should create special procurement and contracting guidance for acquisitions that involve creating or hosting such web-based engagement platforms as the National Dialogue, and (3) DHS should begin future stakeholder engagements by crafting quantitative metrics or indicators to measure such outcomes as transparency, community-building, and capacity

On Fourier integral transforms for qq-Fibonacci and qq-Lucas polynomials

We study in detail two families of $q$-Fibonacci polynomials and $q$-Lucas polynomials, which are defined by non-conventional three-term recurrences. They were recently introduced by Cigler and have been then employed by Cigler and Zeng to construct novel $q$-extensions of classical Hermite polynomials. We show that both of these $q$-polynomial families exhibit simple transformation properties with respect to the classical Fourier integral transform

Floods are not going to go away. Here's how we can make them less costly

Devastating hurricanes in 2017 in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, and the recent landfall of Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas show that flood events are likely to affect the US with far greater frequency in the near future. Beverly A. Cigler takes a close look at why floods have become so much worse in recent years and what we can do to make them less costly both in terms of lives lost and resources. She argues that in addition to promoting green measures, rather than pulling back from flood mitigation as the Trump administration has proposed, the US government needs to do more to help the states to reduce flood hazards as well as promoting measures such as the National Flood Insurance Program

h analogue of Newton's binomial formula

In this letter, the $h$--analogue of Newton's binomial formula is obtained in the $h$--deformed quantum plane which does not have any $q$--analogue. For $h=0$, this is just the usual one as it should be. Furthermore, the binomial coefficients reduce to $\frac{n!}{(n-k)!}$ for $h=1$. \\ Some properties of the $h$--binomial coefficients are also given. \\ Finally, I hope that such results will contribute to an introduction of the $h$--analogue of the well--known functions, $h$--special functions and $h$--deformed analysis.Comment: 6 pages, latex Jounal-ref: J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 31 (1998) L75

Comparison of Model Predictive Control performance using grey-box and white box controller models

Model predictive control (MPC) for building climate control has received increasing attention the last decade. Its large scale implementation is, however, still hampered by the difficulty of obtaining accurate but computationally efficient multi-zone building controller models. This paper compares an existing grey-box approach with a novel white-box approach to obtain a controller model of the building envelope and it compares the performance achieved by using these two approaches. The comparison is made for an existing office building, which is currently controlled using a grey-box MPC [1].  The building envelope and its heating, cooling and air conditioning systems  (HVAC) are modelled using the Modelica building energy simulation library IDEAS. The model is validated using measurement data from the real building. This detailed simulation model is composed of discretised partial differential equations, ordinary differential equations and algebraic equations. The model is therefore too complex to be used as controller model for MPC. Two MPC approaches are compared. On the one hand, the white-box controller model is obtained by linearizing the building envelope part of the simulation model and by pre-computing model inputs such as solar gains through each window [2]. The method generates a linear state space model, which produces very similar temperatures as the original non-linear model. On the other hand, the grey-box identification method that was used to obtain the current controller model, is also applied to the detailed simulation model. Both white-box and grey-box MPC are applied to the detailed simulation model. The dynamics of the HVAC systems are not included in the MPC model but the efficiencies, constraints, cost function and boundary conditions are included. The energy use, the achieved thermal zone comfort and the prediction performance are compared. Finally, a new grey-box model is identified with operation data of the real building and the multi-step ahead prediction performance of the white-box and of both the grey-box models obtained with the simulation data and obtained with the measured data is computed for the real building using the measurement data and the weather forecast, which are used by the current MPC implementation.  [1] Zdenek Vana, Jiri Cigler, Jan Siroky, Eva Zacekova, Lukas Ferkl. Model-based energy efficient control applied to an office building. J. Process Control (2014).  [2] Picard, D., Jorissen, F., and Helsen, L. 2015. Methodology for Obtaining Linear State Space Building Energy Simulation Models. In 11th International Modelica Conference, pages 51–58, Paris

Central factorials under the Kontorovich-Lebedev transform of polynomials

We show that slight modifications of the Kontorovich-Lebedev transform lead to an automorphism of the vector space of polynomials. This circumstance along with the Mellin transformation property of the modified Bessel functions perform the passage of monomials to central factorial polynomials. A special attention is driven to the polynomial sequences whose KL-transform is the canonical sequence, which will be fully characterized. Finally, new identities between the central factorials and the Euler polynomials are found.Comment: also available at http://cmup.fc.up.pt/cmup/ since the 2nd August 201

Exactly solvable D_N-type quantum spin models with long-range interaction

We derive the spectra of the D_N-type Calogero (rational) su(m) spin model, including the degeneracy factors of all energy levels. By taking the strong coupling limit of this model, in which its spin and dynamical degrees of freedom decouple, we compute the exact partition function of the su(m) Polychronakos-Frahm spin chain of D_N type. With the help of this partition function we study several statistical properties of the chain's spectrum, such as the density of energy levels and the distribution of spacings between consecutive levels.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Nanodiamond quantum sensors reveal temperature variation associated to hippocampal neurons firing

Temperature is one of the most relevant parameters for the regulation of intracellular processes. Measuring localized subcellular temperature gradients is fundamental for a deeper understanding of cell function, such as the genesis of action potentials, and cell metabolism. Here, we detect for the first time temperature variations (1{\deg}C) associated with potentiation and depletion of neuronal firing, exploiting a nanoscale thermometer based on optically detected magnetic resonance in nanodiamonds. Our results provide a tool for assessing neuronal spiking activity under physiological and pathological conditions and, conjugated with the high sensitivity of this technique (in perspective sensitive to < 0.1{\deg}C variations), pave the way to a systematic study of the generation of localized temperature gradients. Furthermore, they prompt further studies explaining in detail the physiological mechanism originating this effect.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

Associations of clinical, psychological, and sociodemographic characteristics and ecological momentary assessment completion in the 10-week Hypo- METRICS study:Hypoglycaemia MEasurements ThResholds and ImpaCtS

Introduction: Reporting of hypoglycaemia and its impact in clinical studies is often retrospective and subject to recall bias. We developed the Hypo-METRICS app to measure the daily physical, psychological, and social impact of hypoglycaemia in adults with type 1and insulin-treated type 2 diabetes in real-time using ecological momentary assessment(EMA). To help assess its utility, we aimed to determine Hypo-METRICS app completion rates and factors associated with completion.Methods: Adults with diabetes recruited into the Hypo-METRICS study were given validated patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) at baseline. Over 10 weeks, they wore a blinded continuous glucose monitor (CGM), and were asked to complete three daily EMAs about hypoglycaemia and aspects of daily functioning, and two weekly sleep and productivity PROMs on the bespoke Hypo-METRICS app. We conducted linear regression to determine factors associated with app engagement, assessed by EMA and PROM completion rates and CGM metrics.Results: In 602 participants (55% men; 54% type 2 diabetes; median(IQR) age 56 (45-66)years; diabetes duration 19 (11-27) years; HbA1c 57 (51-65) mmol/mol), median(IQR)overall app completion rate was 91 (84-96)%, ranging from 90 (81-96)%, 89 (80-94)% and94(87-97)% for morning, afternoon and evening check-ins, respectively. Older age, routine CGM use, greater time below 3.0 mmol/L, and active sensor time were positively associated with app completion.Discussion: High app completion across all app domains and participant characteristics indicates the Hypo-METRICS app is an acceptable research tool for collecting detailed data on hypoglycaemia frequency and impact in real-time