DEFENSE BUDGETING DYNAMICS: THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG LATE BUDGETS AND LATE APPROPRIATIONS AND THE CONTENT OF CONTINUING RESOLUTIONS

To better prepare the Department of Defense (DOD) against the negative effects of late appropriations and their resultant continuing resolutions (CRs), our research covers three primary areas: 50 years of Presidential Budget (PB) submissions, Congressional Budget Resolutions (BR), and DOD Authorization and Appropriation Act data. First, our research conducts a historical trend analysis intended to highlight positive, negative, and neutral tendencies. Second, our research aims to determine which federal budgetary deliverable has the strongest correlation to appropriation timeliness. Finally, our research examines how CRs have evolved over time across six basic characteristics: frequency of CRs, CR anomalies, supplemental appropriations and anomalies, CR duration, CR page length, and funding rates. Our research indicated significant evidence to support that budgetary deliverable timeliness is getting worse, that political variables are both strongly correlated and highly influential throughout the data, and that CRs have dynamically shifted in funding structure, length, and frequency throughout the years covered by this research.Captain, United States ArmyLieutenant Commander, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Acute painful diabetic neuropathy: an uncommon, remittent type of acute distal small fibre neuropathy.

INTRODUCTION: Acute painful diabetic neuropathy (APDN) is a distinctive diabetic polyneuropathy and consists of two subtypes: treatment-induced neuropathy (TIN) and diabetic neuropathic cachexia (DNC). The characteristics of APDN are (1.) the small-fibre involvement, (2.) occurrence paradoxically after short-term achievement of good glycaemia control, (3.) intense pain sensation and (4.) eventual recovery. In the face of current recommendations to achieve quickly glycaemic targets, it appears necessary to recognise and understand this neuropathy. METHODS AND RESULTS: Over 2009 to 2012, we reported four cases of APDN. Four patients (three males and one female) were identified and had a mean age at onset of TIN of 47.7 years (±6.99 years). Mean baseline HbA1c was 14.2% (±1.42) and 7.0% (±3.60) after treatment. Mean estimated time to correct HbA1c was 4.5 months (±3.82 months). Three patients presented with a mean time to symptom resolution of 12.7 months (±1.15 months). One patient had an initial normal electroneuromyogram (ENMG) despite the presence of neuropathic symptoms, and a second abnormal ENMG showing axonal and myelin neuropathy. One patient had a peroneal nerve biopsy showing loss of large myelinated fibres as well as unmyelinated fibres, and signs of microangiopathy. CONCLUSIONS: According to the current recommendations of promptly achieving glycaemic targets, it appears necessary to recognise and understand this neuropathy. Based on our observations and data from the literature we propose an algorithmic approach for differential diagnosis and therapeutic management of APDN patients

A New Waveform Consistency Test for Gravitational Wave Inspiral Searches

Searches for binary inspiral signals in data collected by interferometric gravitational wave detectors utilize matched filtering techniques. Although matched filtering is optimal in the case of stationary Gaussian noise, data from real detectors often contains "glitches" and episodes of excess noise which cause filter outputs to ring strongly. We review the standard \chi^2 statistic which is used to test whether the filter output has appropriate contributions from several different frequency bands. We then propose a new type of waveform consistency test which is based on the time history of the filter output. We apply one such test to the data from the first LIGO science run and show that it cleanly distinguishes between true inspiral waveforms and large-amplitude false signals which managed to pass the standard \chi^2 test.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravity for the proceedings of the Eighth Gravitational Wave Data Analysis Workshop (GWDAW-8

Self-control in decision-making involves modulation of the vmPFC valuation system

Every day, individuals make dozens of choices between an alternative with higher overall value and a more tempting but ultimately inferior option. Optimal decision-making requires self-control. We propose two hypotheses about the neurobiology of self-control: (i) Goal-directed decisions have their basis in a common value signal encoded in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and (ii) exercising self-control involves the modulation of this value signal by dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to monitor brain activity while dieters engaged in real decisions about food consumption. Activity in vmPFC was correlated with goal values regardless of the amount of self-control. It incorporated both taste and health in self-controllers but only taste in non–self-controllers. Activity in DLPFC increased when subjects exercised self-control and correlated with activity in vmPFC

Discovery and Characterization of the Cryptic Psi Subunit of the Pseudomonad DNA Replicase

We previously reconstituted a minimal DNA replicase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa consisting of α and ϵ (polymerase and editing nuclease), β (processivity factor), and the essential τ, δ, and δ′ components of the clamp loader complex (Jarvis, T., Beaudry, A., Bullard, J., Janjic, N., and McHenry, C. (2005) J. Biol. Chem. 280, 7890-7900). In Escherichia coli DNA polymerase III holoenzyme, χ and Ψ are tightly associated clamp loader accessory subunits. The addition of E. coli χΨ to the minimal P. aeruginosa replicase stimulated its activity, suggesting the existence of χ and Ψ counterparts in P. aeruginosa. The P. aeruginosa χ subunit was recognizable from sequence similarity, but Ψ was not. Here we report purification of an endogenous replication complex from P. aeruginosa. Identification of the components led to the discovery of the cryptic Ψ subunit, encoded by holD. P. aeruginosa χ and Ψ were co-expressed and purified as a 1:1 complex. P. aeruginosa χΨ increased the specific activity of τ3δδ′ 25-fold and enabled the holoenzyme to function under physiological salt conditions. A synergistic effect between χΨ and single-stranded DNA binding protein was observed. Sequence similarity to P. aeruginosa Ψ allowed us to identify Ψ subunits from several other Pseudomonads and to predict probable translational start sites for this protein family. This represents the first identification of a highly divergent branch of the Ψ family and confirms the existence of Ψ in several organisms in which Ψ was not identifiable based on sequence similarity alone

A tapering window for time-domain templates and simulated signals in the detection of gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries

Inspiral signals from binary black holes, in particular those with masses in the range 10M_\odot \lsim M \lsim 1000 M_\odot, may last for only a few cycles within a detector's most sensitive frequency band. The spectrum of a square-windowed time-domain signal could contain unwanted power that can cause problems in gravitational wave data analysis, particularly when the waveforms are of short duration. There may be leakage of power into frequency bins where no such power is expected, causing an excess of false alarms. We present a method of tapering the time-domain waveforms that significantly reduces unwanted leakage of power, leading to a spectrum that agrees very well with that of a long duration signal. Our tapered window also decreases the false alarms caused by instrumental and environmental transients that are picked up by templates with spurious signal power. The suppression of background is an important goal in noise-dominated searches and can lead to an improvement in the detection efficiency of the search algorithms

Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processes in Emotion Generation: Common and Distinct Neural Mechanisms

Emotions are generally thought to arise through the interaction of bottom-up and top-down processes. However, prior work has not delineated their relative contributions. In a sample of 20 females, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the neural correlates of negative emotions generated by the bottom-up perception of aversive images and by the top-down interpretation of neutral images as aversive. We found that (a) both types of responses activated the amygdala, although bottom-up responses did so more strongly; (b) bottom-up responses activated systems for attending to and encoding perceptual and affective stimulus properties, whereas top-down responses activated prefrontal regions that represent high-level cognitive interpretations; and (c) self-reported affect correlated with activity in the amygdala during bottom-up responding and with activity in the medial prefrontal cortex during top-down responding. These findings provide a neural foundation for emotion theories that posit multiple kinds of appraisal processes and help to clarify mechanisms underlying clinically relevant forms of emotion dysregulation.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant MH58147)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant MH076137