NEUROWAR IS HERE!

Mysterious attacks on the human brain have begun plaguing U.S. diplomats and officials with increasing frequency, ranging from overseas diplomatic outposts to right here in the United States. Known in the media as Havana Syndrome, these attacks appear to be signaling a new form of warfare—one that is focused on enhancing, targeting, and weaponizing the human brain—neurowarfare. Indeed, the human brain is at the center of a biotechnological revolution currently underway. At the same time, great power competition has returned to the forefront of international relations, as China and Russia seek to contest America’s global leadership. In an increasingly globalized and interconnected world, this contest is ultimately a battle of ideas and influence, with more value placed on information and non-lethal means to manipulate and control both adversaries and domestic populations alike. The battle for influence begins and ends in the human mind, where reality is perceived. The implications of these developments point to both a new form and domain of warfare centering on the human brain. By highlighting recent attacks targeting the brain and revealing research from the United States and its two main competitors—China and Russia—this thesis seeks to argue that neurowar is not just coming, but rather is already here and is likely to fundamentally alter conflict and warfare.Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air ForceMajor, United States Air ForceApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Microseismic Monitoring of the Mounds Drill Cuttings Injection Tests

This paper describes the microseismic mapping of repeated injections of drill cuttings into two separate formations at a test site near Mounds, OK. Injections were performed in sandstone and shale formations at depths of 830 and 595 m, respectively. Typical injection disposal was simulated using multiple small-volume injections over a three-day period, with long shut-in periods interspersed between the injections. Microseismic monitoring was achieved using a 5-level array of wireline-run, triaxial- accelerometer receivers in a monitor well 76 m from the disposed well. Results of the mapped microseismic locations showed that the disposal domti W= generally aligns with the major horizontal stress with some variations in azimuth and that wide variations in height and length growth occurred with continued injections. These experiments show that the cuttings injection process cm be adequately monitored from a downhole, wireline-run receiver array, thus providing process control and environmental assurance

Long-Term Corrosion Testing of Thermal Spray Coatings of Amorphous Metals: Fe49.7Cr17.7Mn1.9Mo7.4W1.6B15.2C3.8Si2.4 and Fe48Mo14Cr15Y2C15B6

Amorphous alloys identified as SAM2X5 (Fe{sub 49.7}Cr{sub 17.7}Mn{sub 1.9}Mo{sub 7.4}W{sub 1.6}B{sub 15.2}C{sub 3.8}Si{sub 2.4}) and SAM1651 (Fe{sub 48}Mo{sub 14}Cr{sub 15}Y{sub 2}C{sub 15}B{sub 6}) have been produced as melt-spun ribbons, drop-cast ingots and thermal-spray coatings. Chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo) and tungsten (W) additions provided corrosion resistance, while boron (B) enabled glass formation. Earlier electrochemical studies of melt-spun ribbons and ingots of these amorphous alloys demonstrated outstanding passive film stability. More recently thermal-spray coatings of these amorphous alloys have been made and subjected to long-term salt-fog and immersion tests. Good corrosion resistance has been observed during salt-fog testing. Corrosion rates were measured in situ with linear polarization, while simultaneously monitoring the open-circuit corrosion potentials. Reasonably good performance was observed. The sensitivity of these measurements to electrolyte composition and temperature was determined. The high boron content of SAM2X5 also made it an effective neutron absorber, and suitable for criticality control applications

A Kernel to Exploit Informative Missingness in Multivariate Time Series from EHRs

A large fraction of the electronic health records (EHRs) consists of clinical measurements collected over time, such as lab tests and vital signs, which provide important information about a patient's health status. These sequences of clinical measurements are naturally represented as time series, characterized by multiple variables and large amounts of missing data, which complicate the analysis. In this work, we propose a novel kernel which is capable of exploiting both the information from the observed values as well the information hidden in the missing patterns in multivariate time series (MTS) originating e.g. from EHRs. The kernel, called TCK$_{IM}$, is designed using an ensemble learning strategy in which the base models are novel mixed mode Bayesian mixture models which can effectively exploit informative missingness without having to resort to imputation methods. Moreover, the ensemble approach ensures robustness to hyperparameters and therefore TCK$_{IM}$ is particularly well suited if there is a lack of labels - a known challenge in medical applications. Experiments on three real-world clinical datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed kernel.Comment: 2020 International Workshop on Health Intelligence, AAAI-20. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1907.0525

DyeVert™ PLUS EZ System for Preventing Contrast-Induced Acute Kidney Injury in Patients Undergoing Diagnostic Coronary Angiography and/or Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A UK-Based Cost–Utility Analysis

Background: Contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) is a complication commonly associated with invasive angiographic procedures and is considered the leading cause of hospital-acquired acute kidney injury. CI-AKI can lead to a prolonged hospital stay, with a substantial economic impact, and increased mortality. The DyeVert™ PLUS EZ system (FDA approved and CE marked) is a device that has been developed to divert a portion of the theoretical injected contrast media volume (CMV), reducing the overall volume of contrast media injected and aortic reflux, and potentially improving long-term health outcomes. Objectives: To assess the long-term costs and health outcomes associated with the introduction of the DyeVert™ PLUS EZ system into the UK health care service for the prevention of CI-AKI in a cohort of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 3–4 undergoing diagnostic coronary angiography (DAG) and/or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and to compare these costs and outcomes with those of the current practice. Methods: A de novo economic model was developed based on the current pathway of managing patients undergoing DAG and/or PCI and on evidence related to the clinical effectiveness of DyeVert™ in terms of its impact on relevant clinical outcomes and health service resource use. Clinical data used to populate the model were derived from the literature or were based on assumptions informed by expert clinical input. Costs included in the model were from the NHS and personal social services perspective and obtained from the literature and UK-based routine sources. Probabilistic distributions were assigned to the majority of model parameters so that a probabilistic analysis could be undertaken, while deterministic sensitivity analyses were also carried out to explore the impact of key parameter variation on the model results. Results: Base-case results indicate that the intervention leads to cost savings (− £435) and improved effectiveness (+ 0.028 QALYs) over the patient’s lifetime compared with current practice. Output from the probabilistic analysis points to a high likelihood of the intervention being cost-effective across presented willingness-to-pay (WTP) thresholds. The overall long-term cost saving for the NHS associated with the introduction of the DyeVert™ PLUS EZ system is over £19.7 million for each annual cohort of patients. The cost savings are mainly driven by a lower risk of subsequent diseases and their associated costs. Conclusions: The introduction of the DyeVert™ PLUS EZ system has the potential to reduce costs for the health care service and yield improved clinical outcomes for patients with CKD stage 3–4 undergoing angiographic procedures

The Corrosion Resistance of Fe-Based Amorphous Metals: Fe49.7Cr17.7Mn1.9Mo7.4W1.6B15.2C3.8Si2.4 and Other Compositions

Several Fe-based amorphous metals were developed with good corrosion resistance. These materials have been produced as melt-spun ribbons, ingots, and thermal-spray coatings. Cyclic polarization has been conducted in several aggressive environments, at ambient temperature, as well as temperatures approaching the boiling points of the test solutions. The hypothesis that the corrosion resistance of iron-based amorphous metals can be enhanced through application of heuristic principles related to the additions of chromium, molybdenum, tungsten has been tested and found to have merit. Chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo) and tungsten (W) provide corrosion resistance; boron (B) enables glass formation; and rare earths such as yttrium (Y) lower critical cooling rate (CCR). The high boron content of this particular amorphous metal makes this amorphous alloy an effective neutron absorber, and suitable for criticality control applications. In general, the corrosion resistance of such iron-based amorphous metals is maintained at operating temperatures up to the glass transition temperature

Corrosion Resistances of Iron-Based Amorphous Metals with Yttrium and Tungsten Additions in Hot Calcium Chloride Brine & Natural Seawater: Fe48Mo14Cr15Y2C15B6 and W-Containing Variants

Yttrium-containing SAM1651 (Fe{sub 48.0}Cr{sub 15.0}Mo{sub 14.0}B{sub 6.0}C{sub 15.0}Y{sub 2.0}), has a critical cooling rate (CCR) of approximately 80 Kelvin per second, while SAM2X5 (Fe{sub 49.7}Cr{sub 17.7}Mn{sub 1.9}Mo{sub 7.4}W{sub 1.6}B{sub 15.2}C{sub 3.8}Si{sub 2.4}) with no yttrium has a higher critical cooling rate of approximately 600 Kelvin per second. SAM1651's low CCR enables it to be rendered as a completely amorphous material in practical materials processes. Chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo) and tungsten (W) provide corrosion resistance; boron (B) enables glass formation; and rare earths such as yttrium (Y) lower critical cooling rate (CCR). The passive film stability of these Fe-based amorphous metal formulations have been found to be superior to that of conventional stainless steels, and comparable to that of Ni-based alloys, based on electrochemical measurements of the passive film breakdown potential and general corrosion rates

Iron-Based Amorphous-Metals: High-Performance Corrosion-Resistant Material (HPCRM) Development

An overview of the High-Performance Corrosion-Resistant Materials (HPCRM) Program, which was co-sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Civilian and Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), is discussed. Programmatic investigations have included a broad range of topics: alloy design and composition; materials synthesis; thermal stability; corrosion resistance; environmental cracking; mechanical properties; damage tolerance; radiation effects; and important potential applications. Amorphous alloys identified as SAM2X5 (Fe{sub 49.7}Cr{sub 17.7}Mn{sub 1.9}Mo{sub 7.4}W{sub 1.6}B{sub 15.2}C{sub 3.8}Si{sub 2.4}) and SAM1651 (Fe{sub 48}Mo{sub 14}Cr{sub 15}Y{sub 2}C{sub 15}B{sub 6}) have been produced as melt-spun ribbons, drop-cast ingots and thermal-spray coatings. Chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo) and tungsten (W) additions provided corrosion resistance, while boron (B) enabled glass formation. Earlier electrochemical studies of melt-spun ribbons and ingots of these amorphous alloys demonstrated outstanding passive film stability. More recently thermal-spray coatings of these amorphous alloys have been made and subjected to long-term salt-fog and immersion tests. Good corrosion resistance has been observed during salt-fog testing. Corrosion rates were measured in situ with linear polarization, while simultaneously monitoring the open-circuit corrosion potentials. Reasonably good performance was observed. The sensitivity of these measurements to electrolyte composition and temperature was determined. The high boron content of this particular amorphous metal makes this amorphous alloy an effective neutron absorber, and suitable for criticality control applications. In general, the corrosion resistance of such iron-based amorphous metals is maintained at operating temperatures up to the glass transition temperature. These materials are much harder than conventional stainless steel and nickel-based materials, and are proving to have excellent wear properties, sufficient to warrant their use in earth excavation, drilling and tunnel boring applications. Large areas have been successfully coated with these materials, with thicknesses of approximately one centimeter. The observed corrosion resistance may enable applications of importance in industries such as: oil and gas production, refining, nuclear power generation, shipping, and others

Electrochemical Studies of Passive Film Stability on Fe48Mo14Cr15Y2C15B Amorphous Metal in Seawater at 90oC and 5M CaCl2 at 105oC

Several Fe-based amorphous metal formulations have been identified that appear to have corrosion resistance comparable to, or better than that of Ni-based Alloy C-22 (UNS N06022), based on measurements of breakdown potential and corrosion rate in seawater. Both chromium (Cr) and molybdenum (Mo) provide corrosion resistance, boron (B) enables glass formation, and rare earths such as yttrium (Y) lower critical cooling rate (CCR). Amorphous Fe{sub 48.0}Cr{sub 15.0}Mo{sub 14.0}B{sub 6.0}C{sub 15.0}Y{sub 2.0} (SAM1651) has a low critical cooling rate (CCR) of less than 80 Kelvin per second, due to the addition of yttrium. The low CCR enables it to be rendered as a completely amorphous material in practical materials processes. While the yttrium enables a low CCR to be achieved, it makes the material relatively difficult to atomize, due to increases in melt viscosity. Consequently, the powders produced thus far have had irregular shape, which had made pneumatic conveyance during thermal spray deposition difficult

Electrochemical Studies of Passive Film Stability on Fe48Mo14Cr15Y2C15B Amorphous Metal in Seawater at 90oC and 5M CaCl2 at 105oC

Several Fe-based amorphous metal formulations have been identified that appear to have corrosion resistance comparable to, or better than that of Ni-based Alloy C-22 (UNS N06022), based on measurements of breakdown potential and corrosion rate in seawater. Both chromium (Cr) and molybdenum (Mo) provide corrosion resistance, boron (B) enables glass formation, and rare earths such as yttrium (Y) lower critical cooling rate (CCR). Amorphous Fe{sub 48.0}Cr{sub 15.0}Mo{sub 14.0}B{sub 6.0}C{sub 15.0}Y{sub 2.0} (SAM1651) has a low critical cooling rate (CCR) of less than 80 Kelvin per second, due to the addition of yttrium. The low CCR enables it to be rendered as a completely amorphous material in practical materials processes. While the yttrium enables a low CCR to be achieved, it makes the material relatively difficult to atomize, due to increases in melt viscosity. Consequently, the powders produced thus far have had irregular shape, which had made pneumatic conveyance during thermal spray deposition difficult