Historical background and design evolution of the transonic aircraft technology supercritical wing

Two dimensional wind tunnel test results obtained for supercritical airfoils indicated that substantial improvements in aircraft performance at high subsonic speeds could be achieved by shaping the airfoil to improve the supercritical flow above the upper surface. Significant increases in the drag divergence Mach number, the maximum lift coefficient for buffer onset, and the Mach number for buffet onset at a given lift coefficient were demonstrated for the supercritical airfoil, as compared with a NACA 6 series airfoil of comparable thickness. These trends were corroborated by results from three dimensional wind tunnel and flight tests. Because these indicated extensions of the buffet boundaries could provide significant improvements in the maneuverability of a fighter airplane, an exploratory wind tunnel investigation was initiated which demonstrated that significant aerodynamic improvements could be achieved from the direct substitution of a supercritical airfoil on a variable wing sweep multimission airplane model

An Analysis of Faculty and Administrator Perceptions of Faculty Involvement in Decision-making in the University of Kentucky Community College System

The problem of this study was to determine if there is a significant difference between expressed perceptions of selected community college faculty and administrators concerning the extent to which faculty actually are involved in decision making and the extent to which they ought to be involved in decision making. This was a descriptive study, which utilized a survey methodology. Faculty and administrator perceptions were studied in six decisional areas: appointment, promotion and tenure decisions, academic decisions, administration, student affairs and advisement, system/state control, and general (overall faculty involvement). The study was conducted in the University of Kentucky Community College System, made up of fourteen 2-year institutions. The statistical analysis of data for hypotheses 1-12 warranted the following conclusions: (1) Faculty want to be involved more in all aspects of decision making; this desire is greatest among instructors and assistant professors. (2) Administrators want faculty to be involved more in decision making, although the desire is not as great among directors, associate directors, and assistant directors as it is with division chairs. (3) The variable of sex has little influence on perceptions of faculty and administrators concerning faculty involvement in decision making. (4) The decisional area where faculty exhibit the least decisional deprivation is Academic Decisions, indicating that they have greatest involvement with activities related to instruction. (5) Faculty and administrators are less satisfied with faculty involvement in System/State Control than in any other decisional area

Optimizing Workforce Performance: Perceived Differences of Army Officer Critical Thinking Talent Across Level of Education

The U.S. Army’s operating environment continues to become increasingly complex and unpredictable, where U.S. technological advantage continues to erode. The complexities stem from the Army’s doctrinal assumption that the future operating environment is unknown and constantly changing (Department of the Army [DA], 2014a). Diminishing technological advantage results in more reliance on soldiers’ cognitive capability, and less on high technology weapons systems (McMaster, 2015). A review of military literature shows extensive research on the importance of Army leaders to be talented critical thinkers (Fischer, Spiker, & Riedel, 2008, 2009; Gerras, 2008; Thomas & Gentzler, 2013). Human capital literature reveals many college graduates do not possess the critical thinking skills required of the workforce (Laird, Seifert, Pascarella, Mayhew, & Blaich, 2014; Liu, Frankel & Roohr, 2014). Senior Army leaders identify critical thinking and problem solving as the most important outcomes of officer education, but also identify graduates of Army education institutions often lack these competencies (Hatfield, Steele, Riley, Keller-Glaze, & Fallesen, 2011). Human capital theory (Becker, 1993) and human resource development theory (Swanson, 2001) form the theoretical framework of this study to measure the perceived level of critical thinking talent of junior Army officers with different levels of education, and determine if differences exist between groups. The two groups in the sample consist of junior Army officers with (n = 50) and without (n = 50) a 4-year college degree. Both groups were administered the CCTDI and CCTST critical thinking instruments, and one-way MANOVAs calculated the effect of a 4-year degree on perceived level of critical thinking talent. No significant effect was indicated between groups on either CCTDI scores or CCTST scores. This non-experimental, cross-sectional, explanatory study finds 4-year degrees may not produce the critical thinking outcomes the Army expects. The Army can mitigate this through developing a critical thinking framework across the professional military education continuum, as well as evaluating leader critical thinking talent during Army training events. Future considerations include larger samples across multiple Army installations and multiple branches

Evaluating Workshops and Institutes

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State of Alaska Election Security Project Phase 2 Report

A laska’s election system is among the most secure in the country, and it has a number of safeguards other states are now adopting. But the technology Alaska uses to record and count votes could be improved— and the state’s huge size, limited road system, and scattered communities also create special challenges for insuring the integrity of the vote. In this second phase of an ongoing study of Alaska’s election security, we recommend ways of strengthening the system—not only the technology but also the election procedures. The lieutenant governor and the Division of Elections asked the University of Alaska Anchorage to do this evaluation, which began in September 2007.Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell. State of Alaska Division of Elections.List of Appendices / Glossary / Study Team / Acknowledgments / Introduction / Summary of Recommendations / Part 1 Defense in Depth / Part 2 Fortification of Systems / Part 3 Confidence in Outcomes / Conclusions / Proposed Statement of Work for Phase 3: Implementation / Reference

Compensating Commitments: The Law and Economics of Commitment Bonds That Compensate for the Possibility of Forfeiture

This Article introduces compensating commitment bonds, which make it more affordable for a government, entity, or individual to commit to some course of action. These bonds, like traditional government or corporate bonds, can generate revenue for committing parties. A bond seller makes a commitment and promises to pay a forfeit if the seller fails to meet the bond conditions. The bond buyer pays the seller to be contractually designated as the recipient of any amounts the bond seller forfeits. This approach has potential application in a range of legal situations. Governments and other parties may use such bonds to facilitate commitments to principles from which they later may face temptation to deviate. Such bonds also can facilitate legislative compromise or the settlement of private legal disputes. The Article identifies a variety of incentive-equivalent commitment bond structures as well as the circumstances under which a particular implementation is likely to be most effective. It also explores hurdles to the use of such bonds, including the concerns that the courts might find a legislature’s use of such bonds to entrench its preferences unconstitutional and that a legislature might issue such bonds but cancel them after failing to maintain a commitment

Plio-Pleistocene Depositional Sequences of the Southwestern Louisiana Continental Shelf and Slope: Geologic Framework, Sedimentary Facies and Hydrocarbon Distribution

The Plio-Pleistocene hydrocarbon fairway of offshore Louisiana is restricted to the outer continental shelf and upper continental slope where a thick wedge of nearshore and deep marine sediments was deposited. Electric logs, paleontological reports, and seismic profiles form the basis for (1) dividing the wedge of Plio-Pleistocene strata into eight genetic sequences, (2) establishing the structural framework, (3) determining the timing of deformation, and (4) mapping the principal depositional systems of the West Cameron and western Garden Banks areas during the past five million years. Sedimentary facies and structural styles in this part of the basin are highly variable owing to contemporaneous sea-level fluctuations, salt migration, and shifting sites of deltaic, shelf, and slope sedimentation. The resulting complex geologic history of this part of the basin directly controlled the generation, migration, and entrapment of hydrocarbons. The early Pliocene was a period of continental platform inundation and deposition of a thick succession of marine mudstones. About 3 Ma, this monotonous accumulation of deep-water mudstone was interrupted by deposition of sand-rich submarine channels and fans associated with a lowering of sea level. These lowstand deposits extended at least 55 mi (90 km) basinward of the paleomargin. Overlying Pleistocene sediments were deposited mainly by prograding mud-rich fluvial-deltaic systems of moderate size. These rivers and shelf-edge deltas constructed a broad continental platform that buried the submarine fans and prograded the shelf margin approximately 70 mi (110 km) basinward. During this rapid outbuilding, slumping and other gravity-driven mass transport processes removed sand-rich delta-front sediments from unstable shelf margins and redeposited them on the continental slope.Bureau of Economic Geolog

Randomizing Law

Governments should embrace randomized trials to estimate the efficacy of different laws and regulations. Just as random assignment of treatments is the most powerful method of testing for the causal impact of pharmaceuticals, randomly assigning individuals or firms to different legal rules can help resolve uncertainty about the consequential impacts of law. We explain why randomized testing is likely to produce better information than nonrandom evaluation of legal policies and offer guidelines for conducting legal experimentation successfully, considering a variety of obstacles, including ethical ones. Randomization will not be useful for all policies, but once government gains better experience with randomization, administrative agencies should presumptively issue randomization impact statements justifying decisions to implement particular policies. Making the content of law partially contingent on the results of randomized trials will promote ex ante bipartisan agreements, as politicians with different empirical predictions will tend to think that the experiments will support their position