THE ARMY COMBAT CLOTH FACE COVER

This project defines specific procurement and contracting strategies that were available for the expeditious requisition of the Army Combat Cloth Face Cover (CCFC) program based on Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition policies and the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Selected primary documentation of DOD and U.S. Army regulation, detailed acquisition documentation, DOD and Army directives, data from other federal organizations, and published research data were used to identify the acquisition process, responsibilities, and authorities of the Army. The analysis defines multiple acquisition approaches within the Adaptive Acquisition Framework (AAF), including Major Capability Acquisition, Middle Tier of Acquisition, and Urgent Capability acquisition approaches. Furthermore, the analysis determined that the most expeditious approach for the CCFC effort was using the Urgent Capability Acquisition pathway under the emergency authorization. The AAF urgent acquisition approach that the Army agencies utilized should be applied to other similar rapid requirements or future unplanned rapid acquisitions to help generate a more streamlined acquisition approach that will not only focus on quality from a safety perspective, but also meet an aggressive schedule.Lieutenant Colonel, United States ArmyCaptain, United States ArmyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Regional Consortium of Community-Engaged Researchers: Brainstorming for Gerontology Research Opportunities

Moderators: A. James Lee, PhD, Karen Devereaux Melillo, PhD, A-GNP-C, FAANP, FGSA, Co-Directors, UMass Lowell Center for Gerontology Research and Partnership; Deborah D’Avolio, Ph.D., BC-ACNP, ANP, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Center for Gerontology Research and Partnership, Member Session Presenters A.James Lee, PhD Karen Devereaux Melillo Deborah D’Avolio Center for Gerontology Research and Partnership Members Session Description The Regional Consortium of Community-Engaged Gerontology Researchers was founded to expand opportunities for collaborative research, publication, and research funding. It was launched by the UMass Lowell Center for Gerontology Research and Partnerships in collaboration with the UMass CCTS Community Engagement and Research Section in 2013. Since then, the Regional Consortium has met annually at the UMCCTS Community Engagement and Research Symposium, and key recommendations and partnerships have resulted in sharing of resources and potential collaborations. The purpose of this interactive breakout session is to expand the gerontology researcher network and brainstorm research ideas around community-engaged research opportunities. Utilizing a group facilitator, attendees will engage in dialogue about action steps, potential research collaborations, and funding opportunities

Predicting the effects of climate change on water yield and forest production in the northeastern United States

Rapid and simultaneous changes in temperature, precipitation and the atmospheric concentration of CO2 are predicted to occur over the next century. Simple, well-validated models of ecosystem function are required to predict the effects of these changes. This paper describes an improved version of a forest carbon and water balance model (PnET-II) and the application of the model to predict stand- and regional-level effects of changes in temperature, precipitation and atmospheric CO2 concentration. PnET-II is a simple, generalized, monthly time-step model of water and carbon balances (gross and net) driven by nitrogen availability as expressed through foliar N concentration. Improvements from the original model include a complete carbon balance and improvements in the prediction of canopy phenology, as well as in the computation of canopy structure and photosynthesis. The model was parameterized and run for 4 forest/site combinations and validated against available data for water yield, gross and net carbon exchange and biomass production. The validation exercise suggests that the determination of actual water availability to stands and the occurrence or non-occurrence of soil-based water stress are critical to accurate modeling of forest net primary production (NPP) and net ecosystem production (NEP). The model was then run for the entire NewEngland/New York (USA) region using a 1 km resolution geographic information system. Predicted long-term NEP ranged from -85 to +275 g C m-2 yr-1 for the 4 forest/site combinations, and from -150 to 350 g C m-2 yr-1 for the region, with a regional average of 76 g C m-2 yr-1. A combination of increased temperature (+6*C), decreased precipitation (-15%) and increased water use efficiency (2x, due to doubling of CO2) resulted generally in increases in NPP and decreases in water yield over the region

The AMSC mobile satellite system

The American Mobile Satellite Consortium (AMSC) Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) system is described. AMSC will use three multi-beam satellites to provide L-band MSS coverage to the United States, Canada and Mexico. The AMSC MSS system will have several noteworthy features, including a priority assignment processor that will ensure preemptive access to emergency services, a flexible SCPC channel scheme that will support a wide diversity of services, enlarged system capacity through frequency and orbit reuse, and high effective satellite transmitted power. Each AMSC satellite will make use of 14 MHz (bi-directional) of L-band spectrum. The Ku-band will be used for feeder links

Mobile satellite service in the United States

Mobile satellite service (MSS) has been under development in the United States for more than two decades. The service will soon be provided on a commercial basis by a consortium of eight U.S. companies called the American Mobile Satellite Consortium (AMSC). AMSC will build a three-satellite MSS system that will offer superior performance, reliability and cost effectiveness for organizations requiring mobile communications across the U.S. The development and operation of MSS in North America is being coordinated with Telesat Canada and Mexico. AMSC expects NASA to provide launch services in exchange for capacity on the first AMSC satellite for MSAT-X activities and for government demonstrations

Pupillometry via smartphone for low-resource settings

The photopupillary reflex regulates the pupil reaction to changing light conditions. Being controlled by the autonomic nervous system, it is a proxy for brain trauma and for the conditions of patients in critical care. A prompt evaluation of brain traumas can save lives. With a simple penlight, skilled clinicians can do that, whereas less specialized ones have to resort to a digital pupilometer. However, many low-income countries lack both specialized clinicians and digital pupilometers. This paper presents the early results of our study aiming at designing, prototyping and validating an app for testing the photopupillary reflex via Android, following the European Medical Device Regulation and relevant standards. After a manual validation, the prototype underwent a technical validation against a commercial Infrared pupilometer. As a result, the proposed app performed as well as the manual measurements and better than the commercial solution, with lower errors, higher and significant correlations, and significantly better Bland-Altman plots for all the pupillometry-related measures. The design of this medical device was performed based on our expertise in low-resource settings. This kind of environments imposes more stringent design criteria due to contextual challenges, including the lack of specialized clinicians, funds, spare parts and consumables, poor maintenance, and harsh environmental conditions, which may hinder the safe operationalization of medical devices. This paper provides an overview of how these unique contextual characteristics are cascaded into the design of an app in order to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goal 3 of the World Health Organization: Good health and well-being

Analysis of Climate Policy Targets under Uncertainty

Abstract and PDF report are also available on the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change website (http://globalchange.mit.edu/).Although policymaking in response to the climate change is essentially a challenge of risk management, most studies of the relation of emissions targets to desired climate outcomes are either deterministic or subject to a limited representation of the underlying uncertainties. Monte Carlo simulation, applied to the MIT Integrated Global System Model (an integrated economic and earth system model of intermediate complexity), is used to analyze the uncertain outcomes that flow from a set of century-scale emissions targets developed originally for a study by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. Results are shown for atmospheric concentrations, radiative forcing, sea ice cover and temperature change, along with estimates of the odds of achieving particular target levels, and for the global costs of the associated mitigation policy. Comparison with other studies of climate targets are presented as evidence of the value, in understanding the climate challenge, of more complete analysis of uncertainties in human emissions and climate system response.This study received support from the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, which is funded by a consortium of government, industry and foundation sponsors