ADMINISTRATIVE DUE PROCESS—WOUNDED WARRIORS AND DUE PROCESS: THE CUSHMAN V. SHINSEKI ANALOGY

Military service members and veterans receive various benefits arising from their military service. The Department of Veterans Affairs acts as the trustee for distribution of these benefits upon veterans’ transition to civilian society. Among these benefits is disability compensation for medical conditions incurred or aggravated by the veteran in the course of their military service. This compensation makes the veteran whole for each condition that can be traced back to the veteran’s service. In many cases, this compensation is the veteran’s sole source of subsistence when they return to civilian life. Until 2009, these benefits were not considered property interests under the Due Process Clause. But the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit changed that in Cushman v. Shinseki, which stands for a rather simple proposition: veterans’ benefits are constitutionally protected property interests. The author takes the proposition presented in Cushman and seeks to expand it to another scheme that provides disability benefits to service members still in the military. The Department of Defense may separate with severance pay or medically retire a member who suffers from a medical condition which renders him or her unfit for further military duty. The military disability benefits available to members under this scheme lack any judicially recognized constitutional protection—despite many shared characteristics with disability compensation provided to veterans. The unspoken doctrine of judicial non-interference with national defense and military matters—the military deference doctrine— has stymied opinions like Cushman from appearing in the military disability benefits context. The author argues this doctrine does not apply where the military is acting as an administrator of benefits instead of providing for the national defense. Classifying military disability benefits as property interests does not imply national security issues. Rather, it recognizes that the government cannot arbitrarily deprive service members of disability benefits. The end sought by the Cushman analogy is as simple as the proposition the case stands for: disabled service members ought to be guaranteed a fundamentally fair adjudication—no matter the circumstances

Evolutionary neurocontrol: A novel method for low-thrust gravity-assist trajectory optimization

This article discusses evolutionary neurocontrol, a novel method for low-thrust gravity-assist trajectory optimization

Assessment of GNC Impacts of Chemical Plume Impingement in the Case of Prisma Irides Experiment

This paper presents the preliminary analysis of an in-orbit demonstration opportunity to test plume impingement as a viable means to change the attitude state of a space debris based on the Prisma and Picard missions. This technique has been proposed as part of the COBRA concept studied by ESA in collaboration with GMV, Politecnico di Milano and Thales-Alenia Space, as an active debris removal concept relying on the exhaust plume of a monopropellant chemical propulsion system as a means to impart momentum and ultimately modify the orbit of a space debris object in a contactless manner. The feasibility of the experiment is presented as well as its critical areas, no showstoppers are identified

Experimental investigation on the mechanical behavior of an innovative parabolic trough collector

In the present work an experimental program aimed at assessing the mechanical behavior of an innovative parabolic solar trough is presented. More specifically, a lightweight and low-cost collector making large use of adhesive joints, which can be easily assembled on-site, still performing at a high efficiency, was designed. Static and fatigue tests were performed on a full-scale prototype of the collector in the pre-production stage. The tests included differential torsion, concentrated and distributed bending, and distributed load (wind effect). During the tests, a network of strain gauges was placed in the most critical locations to measure the strain field, while laser sensors and cable transducers were placed in strategic positions to measure the displacements. The results demonstrate the strengths of the innovative parabolic trough collector and support the assessment of its structural integrity

Engineered yeast for enhanced CO2 mineralization

In this work, a biologically catalysed CO2 mineralization process for the capture of CO2 from point sources was designed, constructed at a laboratory scale, and, using standard chemical process scale-up protocols, was modelled and evaluated at an industrial scale. A yeast display system in Saccharomyces cerevisae was used to screen several carbonic anhydrase isoforms and mineralization peptides for their impact on CO2 hydration, CaCO3 mineralization, and particle settling rate. Enhanced rates for each of these steps in the CaCO3 mineralization process were confirmed using quantitative techniques in lab-scale measurements. The effect of these enhanced rates on the CO2 capture cost in an industrial scale CO2 mineralization process using coal fly ash as the CaO source was evaluated. The model predicts a process using bCA2-yeast and fly ash is [similar]10% more cost effective per tonne of CO2 captured than a process with no biological molecules, a savings not realized by wild-type yeast and high-temperature stable recombinant CA2 alone or in combination. The levelized cost of electricity for a power plant using this process was calculated and scenarios in which this process compares favourably to CO2 capture by MEA absorption process are presented.MIT Energy InitiativeEni S.p.A. (Firm)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Biotechnology Training Program)Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundatio

Independent measurement of the Hoyle state β\beta feeding from 12B using Gammasphere

Using an array of high-purity Compton-suppressed germanium detectors, we performed an independent measurement of the $\beta$-decay branching ratio from $^{12}\mathrm{B}$ to the second-excited (Hoyle) state in $^{12}\mathrm{C}$. Our result is $0.64(11)\%$, which is a factor $\sim 2$ smaller than the previously established literature value, but is in agreement with another recent measurement. This could indicate that the Hoyle state is more clustered than previously believed. The angular correlation of the Hoyle state $\gamma$ cascade has also been measured for the first time. It is consistent with theoretical predictions

9^9Be+120^{120}Sn scattering at near-barrier energies within a four body model

Cross sections for elastic and inelastic scattering of the weakly-bound $^9$Be nucleus on a $^{120}$Sn target have been measured at seven bombarding energies around and above the Coulomb barrier. The elastic angular distributions are analyzed with a four-body continuum-discretized coupled-channels (CDCC) calculation, which considers $^9$Be as a three-body projectile ($\alpha$ + $\alpha$ + n). An optical model analysis using the S\~ao Paulo potential is also shown for comparison. The CDCC analysis shows that the coupling to the continuum part of the spectrum is important for the agreement with experimental data even at energies around the Coulomb barrier, suggesting that breakup is an important process at low energies. At the highest incident energies, two inelastic peaks are observed at 1.19(5) and 2.41(5) MeV. Coupled-channels (CC) calculations using a rotational model confirm that the first inelastic peak corresponds to the excitation of the 2$_1^+$ state in $^{120}$Sn, while the second one likely corresponds to the excitation of the 3$_1^-$ state.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures. Accepted as PR