The Africa First Initiative and Local Procurement

The strategic importance of Africa to the United States has grown significantly. Camp Lemonnier, a naval-led military installation, is located in Djibouti and is vital to the strategic success of the United States in Africa. In order to strengthen U.S.-Djibouti ties and solidify an enduring presence in Africa, the Department of Defense implemented the Djibouti First Initiative. Under the initiative, local vendors received preference for resources and products needed at Camp Lemonnier. In 2017, the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act replaced the Djibouti First Initiative with Africa First. The new policy extends the authority to limit competition and provide host nation preference to contracts awarded in support of U.S. operations in Africa. As Africa First expands its reach, the U.S. must first decipher which African countries can offer suppliers who are eligible, and second, work to standardize the processes for finding vendors within each country. The mixed methodology research focuses on the challenges and successes of the short-lived Djibouti First. The research findings are then used to create a framework which decision makers can use to help shape future supplier partnerships in Africa

Incompatibility of Parties as Ground for Divorce

This brief note is concerned with two recent decisions in the State of Washington touching the law of divorce, Shaw v. Shaw, decided August 22, 1928, by Department One, and Haller v. Haller, decided October 8, 1928, by Department Two. The facts of both cases turn upon incompatibility or the inability of the parties to live together. In the Shaw case the court holds that since the enactment of the Session Laws of 1921, p. 331, this is no longer ground for divorce in this state. In the Haller case the other department of the court apparently holds that it is a ground for divorce. The Shaw case points out that the present law of divorce is predicated upon the element of fault of the delinquent spouse and that the divorce is granted upon the application of the injured party

Supreme Court Rule III of Pleading, Procedure and Practice—Amendments and Irregularities

Can Rule III governing amendments and irregularities, be invoked by the Supreme Court voluntarily after the trial and after judgment of dismissal for failure of proof? In the case of Porter v. Baretiche in which the complaint was predicated upon an express contract, the action proceeded regularly to trial and resulted in judgment for the full amount claimed in favor of the plaintiff-respondent. Defendant\u27s answer prayed for judgment of dismissal

Extreme UV QSOs

We present a sample of spectroscopically confirmed QSOs with FUV-NUV color (as measured by GALEX photometry) bluer than canonical QSO templates and than the majority of known QSOs. We analyze their FUV to NIR colors, luminosities and optical spectra. The sample includes a group of 150 objects at low redshift (z $<$ 0.5), and a group of 21 objects with redshift 1.7$<$z$<$2.6. For the low redshift objects, the "blue" FUV-NUV color may be caused by enhanced Ly$\alpha$ emission, since Ly$\alpha$ transits the GALEX FUV band from z=0.1 to z=0.47. Synthetic QSO templates constructed with Ly$\alpha$ up to 3 times stronger than in standard templates match the observed UV colors of our low redshift sample. The H$\alpha$ emission increases, and the optical spectra become bluer, with increasing absolute UV luminosity. The UV-blue QSOs at redshift about 2, where the GALEX bands sample restframe about 450-590A (FUV) and about 590-940A(NUV), are fainter than the average of UV-normal QSOs at similar redshift in NUV, while they have comparable luminosities in other bands. Therefore we speculate that their observed FUV-NUV color may be explained by a combination of steep flux rise towards short wavelengths and dust absorption below the Lyman limit, such as from small grains or crystalline carbon. The ratio of Ly$\alpha$ to CIV could be measured in 10 objects; it is higher (30% on average) than for UV-normal QSOs, and close to the value expected for shock or collisional ionization. FULL VERSION AVAILABLE FROM AUTHOR'S WEB SITE: http://dolomiti.pha.jhu.edu/papers/2009_AJ_Extreme_UV_QSOs.pdfComment: Astronomical Journal, in pres

The Association Between an Established Chief Experience Officer Role and Hospital Patient Experience Scores

The healthcare industry is currently reacting to multiple stakeholders demanding improvements to the patient experience. Some healthcare organizations are implementing new management structures, i.e., the role of Chief Experience Officer (CXO). This study statistically reviewed descriptors associated with hospitals that have and have not created and filled the role of CXO and, more importantly, measured the association between the CXO role and results of patients’ perceptions of their experience of care as measured by publicly reported Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) results. This study was conducted utilizing data gather on hospitals in three states, California, Florida, and New York. The results of the study yield insight into the organization characteristics of hospitals and the market factors associated with those hospitals that have filled the CXO role. Hospitals with a formal CXO role are larger, more likely to be for profit, and operate in metro areas of these states with higher per capita income. In addition, hospitals that have a formal CXO role are also more likely to have higher HCAHPS scores as determined by the patient recommendation question as well as the hospital overall rating question included in the HCAHPS survey

Guidelines for the Utilization of Composite Materials in Oxygen Storage Tanks

Space travel is inherently dangerous and, currently, quite expensive. NASA has always done everything possible to minimize the risk associated with the materials chosen for space travel applications by requiring that all materials associated with NASA programs meet the strict requirements established by NASA testing standard NASA-STD-600 1 Flammability, Odor, Offgassing, and Compatibility Requirements and Test Procedures for Materials in Environments that Support Combustion. NASA also has the need to develop lighter weight structural materials that will allow more payload weight to be carried into space. NASA is utilizing composite materials inside the orbiter to lighten the overall weight, but has not considered composite materials for oxygen tanks because of the inherent incompatibility of composite materials with atomic oxygen. This presentation will focus on how oxygen tanks can be built from composite materials. Details will be provided for the design and compatibility testing techniques that will be utilized to create a new NASA standard, NASA-HDBK-6018, which will serve as the starting point for the design of oxygen tanks made from composite materials

Evolutionary ecology of pipefish brooding structures:embryo survival and growth do not improve with a pouch

For animals that reproduce in water, many adaptations in life-history traits such as egg size, parental care, and behaviors that relate to embryo oxygenation are still poorly understood. In pipefishes, seahorses and seadragons, males care for the embryos either in some sort of brood pouch, or attached ventrally to the skin on their belly or tail. Typically, egg size is larger in the brood pouch group and it has been suggested that oxygen supplied via the pouch buffers the developing embryos against hypoxia and as such is an adaptation that has facilitated the evolution of larger eggs. Here, using four pipefish species, we tested whether the presence or absence of brood pouch relates to how male behavior, embryo size, and survival are affected by hypoxia, with normoxia as control. Two of our studied species Entelurus aequoreus and Nerophis ophidion (both having small eggs) have simple ventral attachment of eggs onto the male trunk, and the other two, Syngnathus typhle (large eggs) and S. rostellatus (small eggs), have fully enclosed brood pouches on the tail. Under hypoxia, all species showed lower embryo survival, while species with brood pouches suffered greater embryo mortality compared to pouchless species, irrespective of oxygen treatment. Behaviorally, species without pouches spent more time closer to the surface, possibly to improve oxygenation. Overall, we found no significant benefits of brood pouches in terms of embryo survival and size under hypoxia. Instead, our results suggest negative effects of large egg size, despite the protection of brood pouches