Air Force Information Management (IM): A 1993 Snapshot of Current and Projected Roles of Enlisted Information Managers

This study provides a preliminary view of the level of familiarity enlisted information managers have of changing roles, responsibilities, and initiatives within the Information Management career field. Using a three-phase investigative methodology that combined e-mail, interviews, and mail surveys, the authors addressed the changing roles and responsibilities of enlisted information managers and their familiarity with these changes. This study found that although individuals agree that the role is changing and expanding, many are performing the traditional administrative taskings. The lower ranks still perceive themselves as clerks, whereas senior enlisted members consider themselves managers. Although the career field name changed to Information Management, the supporting attitude has not. The greatest changes of responsibility focus on the use of new automated tools. From the results of our survey it is apparent that enlisted members in the field are not familiar with concepts and initiatives which are being projected as future responsibilities. Knowledge level tends to increase as rank increases, but this familiarity-level is attributed primarily to personal research. Respondents perceived on-the-job training to be the most appropriate training method for teaching future concepts. The major recommendation from this research is to increase the level of communication to career field members. Another recommendation focuses on the need to provide additional training to the NCO ranks in particular. Individuals would benefit from the development of other educational avenues besides Air Force technical training, such as courses at AFIT or through the Community College of the Air Force

The Effect of External Public Debt Financing on the Economic Growth of East African Community Countries

Purpose - This paper sought to establish the effect of external debt financing on the economic growth of East African community countries. Methodology - The study was modelled as a descriptive survey. A data collection sheet was used to collect secondary data from the population of the 6 member states of East Africa Community over a period from 2000 to 2017. The data was examined using descriptive, correlation and regression analysis. Findings - The study established that 65.9% change in economic growth of Kenya is explained by its external debt, (p=0.000), 55.6% change in economic growth of Uganda is explained by its external debts (p= 0.000),   76.1% change in economic growth of Tanzania is explained by the level of external debts (p=000), 83.1% change in economic growth of Rwanda  is explained by its external debt level (p= 0.000) and that  59.2% change in economic growth of Burundi is explained by its external debt (p= 0.000). On overall, 64.5% change in economic growth in East Africa Community is explained by the external debts of the member states. The study concludes that external debt significantly influenced economic growth of Kenya as a country. External debts significantly influenced economic growth of Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. In general, external debts had most influence on economic growth of Rwanda followed by Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi and lastly Uganda.   On overall, a significant change in economic growth in East Africa Community is explained by the external debts of the member states. External debt significantly influenced economic growth of the EAC. Implications - Public debts play a crucial role in financing of deficit budget. However, too much debt may become unsustainable for the country since revenue will spend on repayment of the interest and the principal amount at the expense of encouraging investment and therefore economic growth. Too much external debts results into crowding out effect as it deters local and foreign investors from investing and this adversely harms the economy. Value - The study will act as a guide to the National treasuries of member states of EAC in order to consider increasing the level of their external debts based on their ability to service and the overall capacity. Member countries of EAC should have clearly established threshold of a rise in level of external beyond which an alarm should be raised to signal danger. The member countries of EAC should borrow external debts for the purpose of economic growth. However, borrowing the debt with the aim of repaying another debt or for recurrent expenditure would not significantly influence economic growth of a country. Key Words: external public debt, economic growth, East Africa communit

Wave Induced Erosion in Artificial Vegetated Beds

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

Chronicles of Oklahoma

Notes and Documents section for Volume 30, Number 1, Spring 1952. It includes documents about a protest by Dr. Angie Debo, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the magazine Books Abroad, a report of the research conducted by E. H. Kelley about the opening of Citizens Bank in Oklahoma City, a history of Ingersoll, Oklahoma, and an introduction to folklore of Oklahoma

Dynamic fibronectin assembly and remodeling by leader neural crest cells prevents jamming in collective cell migration

Collective cell migration plays an essential role in vertebrate development, yet the extent to which dynamically changing microenvironments influence this phenomenon remains unclear. Observations of the distribution of the extracellular matrix (ECM) component fibronectin during the migration of loosely connected neural crest cells (NCCs) lead us to hypothesize that NCC remodeling of an initially punctate ECM creates a scaffold for trailing cells, enabling them to form robust and coherent stream patterns. We evaluate this idea in a theoretical setting by developing an agent-based model that incorporates reciprocal interactions between NCCs and their ECM. ECM remodeling, haptotaxis, contact guidance, and cell-cell repulsion are sufficient for cells to establish streams in silico, however additional mechanisms, such as chemotaxis, are required to consistently guide cells along the correct target corridor. Further investigations of the model imply that contact guidance and differential cell-cell repulsion between leader and follower cells are key contributors to robust collective cell migration by preventing stream breakage. Global sensitivity analysis and simulated underexpression/overexpression experiments suggest that long-distance migration without jamming is most likely to occur when leading cells specialize in creating ECM fibers, and trailing cells specialize in responding to environmental cues by upregulating mechanisms such as contact guidance.Comment: 46 pages, 7 figures (of which 2 are supplementary

Impact of type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome on myocardial structure and microvasculature of men with coronary artery disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome are associated with impaired diastolic function and increased heart failure risk. Animal models and autopsy studies of diabetic patients implicate myocardial fibrosis, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, altered myocardial microvascular structure and advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) in the pathogenesis of diabetic cardiomyopathy. We investigated whether type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome are associated with altered myocardial structure, microvasculature, and expression of AGEs and receptor for AGEs (RAGE) in men with coronary artery disease.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed histological analysis of left ventricular biopsies from 13 control, 10 diabetic and 23 metabolic syndrome men undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery who did not have heart failure or atrial fibrillation, had not received loop diuretic therapy, and did not have evidence of previous myocardial infarction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All three patient groups had similar extent of coronary artery disease and clinical characteristics, apart from differences in metabolic parameters. Diabetic and metabolic syndrome patients had higher pulmonary capillary wedge pressure than controls, and diabetic patients had reduced mitral diastolic peak velocity of the septal mitral annulus (E'), consistent with impaired diastolic function. Neither diabetic nor metabolic syndrome patients had increased myocardial interstitial fibrosis (picrosirius red), or increased immunostaining for collagen I and III, the AGE Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine, or RAGE. Cardiomyocyte width, capillary length density, diffusion radius, and arteriolar dimensions did not differ between the three patient groups, whereas diabetic and metabolic syndrome patients had reduced perivascular fibrosis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Impaired diastolic function of type 2 diabetic and metabolic syndrome patients was not dependent on increased myocardial fibrosis, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, alteration of the myocardial microvascular structure, or increased myocardial expression of Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine or RAGE. These findings suggest that the increased myocardial fibrosis and AGE expression, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, and altered microvasculature structure described in diabetic heart disease were a consequence, rather than an initiating cause, of cardiac dysfunction.</p

Bostonia: The Boston University Alumni Magazine. Volume 9

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

Genetic and environmental risk for major depression in African-American and European-American women

It is unknown whether there are racial differences in the heritability of major depressive disorder (MDD) because most psychiatric genetic studies have been conducted in samples comprised largely of white non-Hispanics. To examine potential differences between African-American (AA) and European-American (EA) young adult women in (1) DSM-IV MDD prevalence, symptomatology and risk factors and (2) genetic and/or environmental liability to MDD, we analyzed data from a large, population representative sample of twins ascertained from birth records (n= 550 AA and n=3226 EA female twins) aged 18–28 years at the time of MDD assessment by semi-structured psychiatric interview. AA women were more likely to have MDD risk factors; however, there were no significant differences in lifetime MDD prevalence between AA and EA women after adjusting for covariates (Odds Ratio = 0.88, 95% confidence interval: 0.67–1.15 ). Most MDD risk factors identified among AAs were also associated with MDD at similar magnitudes among EAs. Although the MDD heritability point estimate was higher among AA than EA women in a model with paths estimated separately by race (56%, 95% CI: 29%–78% vs. 41%, 95% CI: 29%–52%), the best-fitting model was one in which additive genetic and nonshared environmental paths for AA and EA women were constrained to be equal (A = 43%, 33%–53% and E = 57%, 47%–67%). Despite a marked elevation in the prevalence of environmental risk exposures related to MDD among AA women, there were no significant differences in lifetime prevalence or heritability of MDD between AA and EA young women

"Now he walks and walks, as if he didn't have a home where he could eat": food, healing, and hunger in Quechua narratives of madness

In the Quechua-speaking peasant communities of southern Peru, mental disorder is understood less as individualized pathology and more as a disturbance in family and social relationships. For many Andeans, food and feeding are ontologically fundamental to such relationships. This paper uses data from interviews and participant observation in a rural province of Cuzco to explore the significance of food and hunger in local discussions of madness. Carers’ narratives, explanatory models, and theories of healing all draw heavily from idioms of food sharing and consumption in making sense of affliction, and these concepts structure understandings of madness that differ significantly from those assumed by formal mental health services. Greater awareness of the salience of these themes could strengthen the input of psychiatric and psychological care with this population and enhance knowledge of the alternative treatments that they use. Moreover, this case provides lessons for the global mental health movement on the importance of openness to the ways in which indigenous cultures may construct health, madness, and sociality. Such local meanings should be considered by mental health workers delivering services in order to provide care that can adjust to the alternative ontologies of sufferers and carers