Can Neuroscience Help Predict Future Antisocial Behavior?

Part I of this Article reviews the tools currently available to predict antisocial behavior. Part II discusses legal precedent regarding the use of, and challenges to, various prediction methods. Part III introduces recent neuroscience work in this area and reviews two studies that have successfully used neuroimaging techniques to predict recidivism. Part IV discusses some criticisms that are commonly levied against the various prediction methods and highlights the disparity between the attitudes of the scientific and legal communities toward risk assessment generally and neuroscience specifically. Lastly, Part V explains why neuroscience methods will likely continue to help inform and, ideally, improve the tools we use to help assess, understand, and predict human behavior

Network design guidance for the Global Special Operations Forces network

The current national security strategy calls for an increased reliance on relationships with diverse partners to address the challenges of the contemporary security environment. United States Special Operations Command is confronting these challenges with a Global Special Operations Forces (SOF) Network (GSN). The question is this: how should SOF develop social networks in support of the GSN? This study employs a mixed-methods research design to create a process model of social network design to aid SOF in the development of the GSN. The model consists of five composite factors: expertise (E), sensemaking (S), connection (C), action (A) and narrative (N). These five factors are interconnected and form a process model called E-SCAN. The model is offered as a guide to assist SOF personnel in developing their social networks and building out the GSN.http://archive.org/details/networkdesigngui1094544614Outstanding ThesisMajor, United States ArmyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

The Braincase of Eocaecilia micropodia (Lissamphibia, Gymnophiona) and the Origin of Caecilians

The scant fossil record of caecilians has obscured the origin and evolution of this lissamphibian group. Eocaecilia micropodia from the Lower Jurassic of North America remains the only stem-group caecilian with an almost complete skull preserved. However, this taxon has been controversial, engendering re-evaluation of traits considered to be plesiomorphic for extant caecilians. Both the validity of the placement of E. micropodia as a stem caecilian and estimates of the plesiomorphic condition of extant caecilians have been questioned. In order to address these issues, the braincase of E. micropodia was examined via micro-computed tomography. The braincase is considered to be a more reliable phylogenetic indicator than peripheral regions of the skull. These data reveal significant new information, including the possession of an ossified nasal septum, ossified anterior wall of the sphenethmoid, long anterolateral processes on the sphenethmoid, and paired olfactory nerve foramina, which are known only to occur in extant caecilians; the latter are possibly related to the evolution of the tentacle, a caecilian autapomorphy. A phylogenetic analysis that included 64 non-amniote taxa and 308 characters represents the first extensive test of the phylogenetic affinities of E. micropodia. The results place E. micropodia securely on the stem of extant caecilians, representing a clade within Temnospondyli that is the sister taxon to batrachians plus Gerobatrachus. Ancestral character state reconstruction confirms the braincase of E. micropodia to be largely representative of the plesiomorphic condition of extant caecilians. Additionally, the results refine the context within which the evolution of the caecilian form can be evaluated. The robust construction and pattern of the dermal skull of E. micropodia is interpreted as symplesiomorphic with advanced dissorophoid temnospondyls, rather than being autapomorphic in its robust construction. Together these data increase confidence in incorporating E. micropodia into discussions of caecilian evolution.Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog

Supply Chain Resilience: How Autonomous Rovers Empirically Provide Relief to Constrained Flight Line Maintenance Activities

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to explore the utility of autonomous transport across two independent airframe maintenance operations at a single location. Design/methodology/approach – This study leveraged discrete event simulation that encompassed real-world conditions on a United States Air Force flight line. Though the Theory of Constraints (TOC) lens, a high-demand, human-controlled delivery asset is analyzed and the impact of introducing an autonomous rover delivery vehicle is assessed. The authors’ simulations explored varying numbers and networks of rovers as alternative sources of delivery and evaluated these resources’ impact against current flight line operations. Findings – This research indicates that the addition of five autonomous rovers can significantly reduce daily expediter delivery tasks, which results in additional expertise necessary to manage and execute flight line operations. The authors assert that this relief would translate into enhancements in aircraft mission capable rates, which could increase overall transport capacity and cascade into faster cargo delivery times, systemwide. By extension, the authors suggest overall inventory management could be improved through reduction in transportation shipping time variance, which enhances the Department of Defense’s overall supply chain resilience posture. Originality/value – When compared against existing practices, this novel research provides insight into actual flight line movement and the potential benefits of an alternative autonomous delivery system. Additionally, the research measures the potential savings in the workforce and vehicle use that exceeds the cost of the rovers and their employment

Using Temporal Changes in Drought Indices to Generate Probabilistic Drought Intensification Forecasts

In this study, the potential utility of using rapid temporal changes in drought indices to provide early warning of an elevated risk for drought development over subseasonal time scales is assessed. Standardized change anomalies were computed each week during the 2000–13 growing seasons for drought indices depicting anomalies in evapotranspiration, precipitation, and soil moisture. A rapid change index (RCI) that encapsulates the accumulated magnitude of rapid changes in the weekly anomalies was computed each week for each drought index, and then a simple statistical method was used to convert the RCI values into drought intensification probabilities depicting the likelihood that drought severity as analyzed by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) would worsen in subsequent weeks. Local and regional case study analyses revealed that elevated drought intensification probabilities often occur several weeks prior to changes in the USDM and in topsoil moisture and crop condition datasets compiled by the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Statistical analyses showed that the RCI-derived probabilities are most reliable and skillful over the central and eastern United States in regions most susceptible to rapid drought development. Taken together, these results suggest that tools used to identify areas experiencing rapid changes in drought indices may be useful components of future drought early warning systems

Socs36E Controls Niche Competition by Repressing MAPK Signaling in the Drosophila Testis

The Drosophila testis is a well-established system for studying stem cell self-renewal and competition. In this tissue, the niche supports two stem cell populations, germ line stem cells (GSCs), which give rise to sperm, and somatic stem cells called cyst stem cells (CySCs), which support GSCs and their descendants. It has been established that CySCs compete with each other and with GSCs for niche access, and mutations have been identified that confer increased competitiveness to CySCs, resulting in the mutant stem cell and its descendants outcompeting wild type resident stem cells. Socs36E, which encodes a negative feedback inhibitor of the JAK/STAT pathway, was the first identified regulator of niche competition. The competitive behavior of Socs36E mutant CySCs was attributed to increased JAK/STAT signaling. Here we show that competitive behavior of Socs36E mutant CySCs is due in large part to unbridled Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) signaling. In Socs36E mutant clones, MAPK activity is elevated. Furthermore, we find that clonal upregulation of MAPK in CySCs leads to their outcompetition of wild type CySCs and of GSCs, recapitulating the Socs36E mutant phenotype. Indeed, when MAPK activity is removed from Socs36E mutant clones, they lose their competitiveness but maintain self-renewal, presumably due to increased JAK/STAT signaling in these cells. Consistently, loss of JAK/STAT activity in Socs36E mutant clones severely impairs their self-renewal. Thus, our results enable the genetic separation of two essential processes that occur in stem cells. While some niche signals specify the intrinsic property of self-renewal, which is absolutely required in all stem cells for niche residence, additional signals control the ability of stem cells to compete with their neighbors. Socs36E is node through which these processes are linked, demonstrating that negative feedback inhibition integrates multiple aspects of stem cell behavior

Gammaherpesvirus modulation of mouse adenovirus type 1 pathogenesis

AbstractImmune function is likely to be shaped by multiple infections over time. Infection with one pathogen can confer cross-protection against heterologous pathogens. We tested the hypothesis that latent murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (γHV68) infection modulates host inflammatory responses and susceptibility to mouse adenovirus type 1 (MAV-1). Mice were infected intranasally (i.n.) with γHV68. 21 days later, they were infected i.n. with MAV-1. We assessed cytokine and chemokine expression by quantitative reverse transcriptase real-time PCR, cellular inflammation by histology, and viral loads by quantitative real-time PCR. Previous γHV68 infection led to persistently upregulated IFN-γ in lungs and spleen and persistently upregulated CCL2 and CCL5 in the lungs. Previous γHV68 infection amplified MAV-1-induced CCL5 upregulation and cellular inflammation in the lungs. Previous γHV68 infection was associated with lower MAV-1 viral loads in the spleen but not the lung. There was no significant effect of previous γHV68 on IFN-γ expression or MAV-1 viral loads when the interval between infections was increased to 44 days. In summary, previous γHV68 infection modulated lung inflammatory responses and decreased susceptibility to a heterologous virus in an organ- and time-dependent manner