280 research outputs found
âFUNNY MONEYâ: AN ANALYSIS OF OPTAR FRAUD, WASTE, AND ABUSE IN THE U.S. NAVY
Operational target funds (OPTAR) are utilized by U.S. naval commands to purchase repair parts and consumable products (e.g., cleaning supplies, office products, etc.). These funds represent approximately six percent of the Department of the Navyâs budget issued by Congress to the Department of Defense on an annual basis. OPTAR funds are managed by U.S. Navy Logistics Specialists and Supply Corps Officers. Possible gaps in the oversight of these funds may be present. These gaps in oversight could provide opportunities for potential fraud, waste, and abuse.
The purpose of this research was to determine Navy Supply Corps Officersâ knowledge of fraud, waste, and abuse as it applies to OPTAR funds, and to assess their perceptions of the sufficiency of the Navyâs training, internal controls, and audit processes related to those OPTAR funds. The data used for this research was obtained through the deployment of an online survey to Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) students who are United States Navy Supply Corps Officers. Findings from this research identified issues differentiating between abuse and fraud schemes, a lack of training and knowledge of services and programs available to Navy Supply Corps Officers, as well as gaps in training, internal controls, and audit processes that would help detect, deter, and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse of OPTAR funds. Based on the research findings, recommendations were provided.Outstanding ThesisLieutenant Commander, United States NavyLieutenant Commander, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited
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Variation in female reproductive success in amphibians
My dissertation focuses on the factors that influence variation in female reproductive success in plethodontid salamanders and in toads. Variation in reproductive success fuels evolutionary change. Although, females often have been overlooked in studies of reproductive success due to perceived lower levels of variation when compared to variation in male reproductive success, understanding factors influencing variation in female reproductive success is critical for several reasons. First, female reproduction is usually the limiting factor on population growth. Second, the factors affecting female reproduction provide the impetus for current and evolving patterns of sexual dimorphism. Lastly, male reproductive success inevitably is determined by the reproductive success of the females with which they mate. Recent theoretical developments of sexual conflict have contributed significantly to a renewed emphasis on studies of female reproductive success. Sexual conflict theory elucidates important factors, from the perspective of females, affecting female behavior and reproductive success. Sexual conflict assumes that a female will benefit, in terms of reproductive success and offspring viability, when she is able to freely choose among males, unconstrained by social and environmental factors. Female choice would be constrained if a non-preferred male (i.e., one that would be rejected by a freely choosing female) coerced a female to mate in order to increase his own mating success. The dynamics between discriminating females and non-preferred males will lead to a coevolutionary "arms race", referred to as sexual conflict. From this perspective, secondary male traits may not reflect their intrinsic quality, but rather their ability to manipulate or coerce female mating decisions. The current debate lies in the importance and pervasiveness of sexual conflict. To address the current view of sexual conflict, I investigated whether sexual conflict plays a role in the mating systems of amphibians. In particular, my results support the main assumption that females benefit from freely expressed female mate choice in toads. In addition, I explored the potential influence of sexual conflict in plethodontid salamanders. During mating trials, I documented novel female courtship behaviors. I also examined the effects of male courtship pheromones on female reproductive success to assess the potential role of male pheromones in sexual conflict. My results suggest that sexual conflict also may be an important factor in plethodontid mating systems. My investigations of sexual conflict theory have provided new insights and novel predictions for understanding sexual selection and sexual dimorphism
Molecular evolution in Panagrolaimus nematodes: origins of parthenogenesis, hermaphroditism and the Antarctic species P. davidi
10.1186/1471-2148-9-15BMC Evolutionary Biology911
A genomic survey of the fish parasite Spironucleus salmonicida indicates genomic plasticity among diplomonads and significant lateral gene transfer in eukaryote genome evolution
BACKGROUND: Comparative genomic studies of the mitochondrion-lacking protist group Diplomonadida (diplomonads) has been lacking, although Giardia lamblia has been intensively studied. We have performed a sequence survey project resulting in 2341 expressed sequence tags (EST) corresponding to 853 unique clones, 5275 genome survey sequences (GSS), and eleven finished contigs from the diplomonad fish parasite Spironucleus salmonicida (previously described as S. barkhanus). RESULTS: The analyses revealed a compact genome with few, if any, introns and very short 3' untranslated regions. Strikingly different patterns of codon usage were observed in genes corresponding to frequently sampled ESTs versus genes poorly sampled, indicating that translational selection is influencing the codon usage of highly expressed genes. Rigorous phylogenomic analyses identified 84 genes â mostly encoding metabolic proteins â that have been acquired by diplomonads or their relatively close ancestors via lateral gene transfer (LGT). Although most acquisitions were from prokaryotes, more than a dozen represent likely transfers of genes between eukaryotic lineages. Many genes that provide novel insights into the genetic basis of the biology and pathogenicity of this parasitic protist were identified including 149 that putatively encode variant-surface cysteine-rich proteins which are candidate virulence factors. A number of genomic properties that distinguish S. salmonicida from its human parasitic relative G. lamblia were identified such as nineteen putative lineage-specific gene acquisitions, distinct mutational biases and codon usage and distinct polyadenylation signals. CONCLUSION: Our results highlight the power of comparative genomic studies to yield insights into the biology of parasitic protists and the evolution of their genomes, and suggest that genetic exchange between distantly-related protist lineages may be occurring at an appreciable rate in eukaryote genome evolution
Using Early Data to Illuminate the Pioneer Anomaly
Analysis of the radio tracking data from the Pioneer 10/11 spacecraft at
distances between about 20 - 70 AU from the Sun has consistently indicated the
presence of an unmodeled, small, constant, Doppler blue shift drift of order 6
\times 10^{-9} Hz/s. After accounting for systematics, this drift can be
interpreted as a constant acceleration of a_P= (8.74 \pm 1.33) \times 10^{-8}
cm/s^2 directed towards the Sun, or perhaps as a time acceleration of a_t =
(2.92 \pm 0.44)\times 10^{-18} s/s^2. Although it is suspected that there is a
systematic origin to this anomaly, none has been unambiguously demonstrated. We
review the current status of the anomaly, and then point out how the analysis
of early data, which was never analyzed in detail, could allow a more clear
understanding of the origin of the anomaly, be it a systematic or a
manifestation of unsuspected physics.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, additional materia
Reproducibility of CSF quantitative culture methods for estimating rate of clearance in cryptococcal meningitis.
Quantitative cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cultures provide a measure of disease severity in cryptococcal meningitis. The fungal clearance rate by quantitative cultures has become a primary endpoint for phase II clinical trials. This study determined the inter-assay accuracy of three different quantitative culture methodologies. Among 91 participants with meningitis symptoms in Kampala, Uganda, during August-November 2013, 305 CSF samples were prospectively collected from patients at multiple time points during treatment. Samples were simultaneously cultured by three methods: (1) St. George's 100âmcl input volume of CSF with five 1:10 serial dilutions, (2) AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) method using 1000, 100, 10âmcl input volumes, and two 1:100 dilutions with 100 and 10âmcl input volume per dilution on seven agar plates; and (3) 10âmcl calibrated loop of undiluted and 1:100 diluted CSF (loop). Quantitative culture values did not statistically differ between St. George-ACTG methods (P= .09) but did for St. George-10âmcl loop (P< .001). Repeated measures pairwise correlation between any of the methods was high (râ„0.88). For detecting sterility, the ACTG-method had the highest negative predictive value of 97% (91% St. George, 60% loop), but the ACTG-method had occasional (âŒ10%) difficulties in quantification due to colony clumping. For CSF clearance rate, St. George-ACTG methods did not differ overall (mean -0.05 ± 0.07 log10CFU/ml/day;P= .14) on a group level; however, individual-level clearance varied. The St. George and ACTG quantitative CSF culture methods produced comparable but not identical results. Quantitative cultures can inform treatment management strategies
The Effect of Iron Oxide Magnetic Nanoparticles on Smooth Muscle Cells
Recently, magnetic nanoparticles of iron oxide (Fe3O4, Îł-Fe2O3) have shown an increasing number of applications in the field of biomedicine, but some questions have been raised about the potential impact of these nanoparticles on the environment and human health. In this work, the three types of magnetic nanoparticles (DMSA-Fe2O3, APTS-Fe2O3, and GLU-Fe2O3) with the same crystal structure, magnetic properties, and size distribution was designed, prepared, and characterized by transmission electronic microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, zeta potential analyzer, vibrating sample magnetometer, and Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy. Then, we have investigated the effect of the three types of magnetic nanoparticles (DMSA-Fe2O3, APTS-Fe2O3, and GLU-Fe2O3) on smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Cellular uptake of nanoparticles by SMC displays the dose, the incubation time and surface property dependent patterns. Through the thin section TEM images, we observe that DMSA-Fe2O3is incorporated into the lysosome of SMCs. The magnetic nanoparticles have no inflammation impact, but decrease the viability of SMCs. The other questions about metabolism and other impacts will be the next subject of further studies
Anthropogenic Space Weather
Anthropogenic effects on the space environment started in the late 19th
century and reached their peak in the 1960s when high-altitude nuclear
explosions were carried out by the USA and the Soviet Union. These explosions
created artificial radiation belts near Earth that resulted in major damages to
several satellites. Another, unexpected impact of the high-altitude nuclear
tests was the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that can have devastating effects
over a large geographic area (as large as the continental United States). Other
anthropogenic impacts on the space environment include chemical release ex-
periments, high-frequency wave heating of the ionosphere and the interaction of
VLF waves with the radiation belts. This paper reviews the fundamental physical
process behind these phenomena and discusses the observations of their impacts.Comment: 71 pages, 35 figure
A Retrospective, Epidemiological Review of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in a Military Population
OBJECTIVE: Examine incidence rates of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) in a military population over a tenyear period and whether demographic characteristics differ within the same population.
METHODS: Diagnostic data and demographic variables from 23,821 active duty service members between 2006 and 2015 were analyzed from the Defense Medical Epidemiological Database.
RESULTS: The incidence rates of new onset cases ranged from .22 (per 1,000 service members) in 2015 to a high of 1.46 (per 1,000 service members) in 2006 for T2DM without complications and .00 (per 1,000 service members) in 2007 to a high of .29 (per 1,000 service members) in 2015 for T2DM with complications. The one-sample chi-square test showed the observed, and expected frequencies differed significantly for all demographic variables tested.
CONCLUSIONS: Although there was a significant increase in the diagnosis of T2DM with complications in 2015, the overall downtrend is similar to that of the general US population. Older age and higher rank were more likely to be associated with the diagnosis of T2DM with and without complications, again suggestive of similar trends with the general US population. Continued efforts towards early diagnosis and treatment of these service members are needed to address this problem regarding military readiness
The Pioneer Anomaly
Radio-metric Doppler tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11
spacecraft from heliocentric distances of 20-70 AU has consistently indicated
the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted frequency drift uniformly
changing with a rate of ~6 x 10^{-9} Hz/s. Ultimately, the drift was
interpreted as a constant sunward deceleration of each particular spacecraft at
the level of a_P = (8.74 +/- 1.33) x 10^{-10} m/s^2. This apparent violation of
the Newton's gravitational inverse-square law has become known as the Pioneer
anomaly; the nature of this anomaly remains unexplained. In this review, we
summarize the current knowledge of the physical properties of the anomaly and
the conditions that led to its detection and characterization. We review
various mechanisms proposed to explain the anomaly and discuss the current
state of efforts to determine its nature. A comprehensive new investigation of
the anomalous behavior of the two Pioneers has begun recently. The new efforts
rely on the much-extended set of radio-metric Doppler data for both spacecraft
in conjunction with the newly available complete record of their telemetry
files and a large archive of original project documentation. As the new study
is yet to report its findings, this review provides the necessary background
for the new results to appear in the near future. In particular, we provide a
significant amount of information on the design, operations and behavior of the
two Pioneers during their entire missions, including descriptions of various
data formats and techniques used for their navigation and radio-science data
analysis. As most of this information was recovered relatively recently, it was
not used in the previous studies of the Pioneer anomaly, but it is critical for
the new investigation.Comment: 165 pages, 40 figures, 16 tables; accepted for publication in Living
Reviews in Relativit
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