Department of Defense's 2015 retirement plan cost analysis

MBA Professional ReportThe new military retirement system is advertised to significantly reduce the Department of Defense's (DOD) monetary outlays over the short and long term. These savings are generated through a variety of assumptions outside of the department's control. The variables that have the greatest impact over cost savings are controlled by service members' (SM) actions, choices, and federal interest rates. Critical analysis of these variables could potentially affect future cost savings and is key in budget preparation and future spending plans. This MBA report presents a sensitivity analysis on three separate variables that have a significant impact on retirement costs. Realistic manipulation of these independent variables will show short-term versus long-term cost savings. Additionally, a high-cost and low-cost scenario is explored. With cost scenarios differing up to $321 billion, DOD needs to be aware of the potential effects of future outlays. It is recommended that DOD conduct additional economic research and acquire further data on the preferences of current SMs in order to provide a more narrow range of cost savings.http://archive.org/details/departmentofdefe1094549480Lieutenant Commander, United States NavyLieutenant, United States NavyLieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Assimilating bio-optical glider data during a phytoplankton bloom in the southern Ross Sea

The Ross Sea is a region characterized by high primary productivity in comparison to other Antarctic coastal regions, and its productivity is marked by considerable variability both spatially (1-50 km) and temporally (days to weeks). This variability presents a challenge for inferring phytoplankton dynamics from observations that are limited in time or space, which is often the case due to logistical limitations of sampling. To better understand the spatio-temporal variability in Ross Sea phytoplankton dynamics and to determine how restricted sampling may skew dynamical interpretations, high-resolution bio-optical glider measurements were assimilated into a one-dimensional biogeochemical model adapted for the Ross Sea. The assimilation of data from the entire glider track using the micro-genetic and local search algorithms in the Marine Model Optimization Testbed improves the model-data fit by similar to 50 %, generating rates of integrated primary production of 104 g C m(-2) yr(-1) and export at 200 m of 27 g C m(-2) yr(-1). Assimilating glider data from three different latitudinal bands and three different longitudinal bands results in minimal changes to the simulations, improves the model-data fit with respect to unassimilated data by similar to 35 %, and confirms that analyzing these glider observations as a time series via a one-dimensional model is reasonable on these scales. Whereas assimilating the full glider data set produces well-constrained simulations, assimilating subsampled glider data at a frequency consistent with cruise-based sampling results in a wide range of primary production and export estimates. These estimates depend strongly on the timing of the assimilated observations, due to the presence of high mesoscale variability in this region. Assimilating surface glider data subsampled at a frequency consistent with available satellite-derived data results in 40% lower carbon export, primarily resulting from optimized rates generating more slowly sinking diatoms. This analysis highlights the need for the strategic consideration of the impacts of data frequency, duration, and coverage when combining observations with biogeochemical modeling in regions with strong mesoscale variability

Neural modulators of temperament:A multivariate approach to personality trait identification in the horse

A relationship between dopamine and temperament has previously been described in human cases of dopaminergic dysfunction. Adjustment in temperament prior to disease manifestation can enable the early identification of individuals at risk of such 20 conditions, and scope exists to extend this application of temperament alterations to cases of dopaminergic dysfunction in horses. A multivariate and mixed-methods approach utilising a questionnaire along with two inferred measurements of dopamine activity (Spontaneous Blink Rate [SBR] and Behavioral Initiation Rate [BIR]) were recorded from direct observation of animals (n=99) to identify the potential relationship between dopamine and temperament in horses. Principal components analysis (PCA) of 36 temperament variables revealed nine Principal Components, including ‘Anxiety’ and ‘Docility’, which accounted for 72.4% of the total variance. Component scores were calculated and correlated with SBR and BIR utilising Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient analysis. The component ‘Anxiety’ was found to have a significant positive relationship with SBR, whereas ‘Docility’ was observed to have a significant negative relationship with SBR. These results indicate a relationship between dopamine and temperament within the horse that is certainly worthy of further study. Potential mechanisms involving neural dopaminergic and GABAergic systems are presented, in addition to how such alterations could be utilised to probe for equine dopamine dysfunction pending future research. Highlights: A significant positive correlation was observed between ‘Anxiety’ and dopamine levels A significant negative correlation was found between ‘Docility’ and dopamine levels Chronic dopamine adaptations may initially manifest as temperament alterations Potential exists to identify horses at risk of dopamine dysfunction development through analysis of temperament Key words: Temperament; Dopamine; Equine; Behavior; Anxiety; Docilit

A sex-linked supergene with large effects on sperm traits has little impact on reproductive traits in female zebra finches.

Despite constituting an essential component of fitness, reproductive success can vary remarkably between individuals and the causes of such variation are not well understood across taxa. In the zebra finch—a model songbird, almost all the variation in sperm morphology and swimming speed is maintained by a large polymorphic inversion (commonly known as a supergene) on the Z chromosome. The relationship between this polymorphism and reproductive success is not fully understood, particularly for females. Here, we explore the effects of female haplotype, and the combination of male and female genotype, on several primary reproductive traits in a captive population of zebra finches. Despite the inversion polymorphism's known effects on sperm traits, we find no evidence that inversion haplotype influences egg production by females or survival of embryos through to hatching. However, our findings do reinforce existing evidence that the inversion polymorphism is maintained by a heterozygote advantage for male fitness. This work provides an important step in understanding the causes of variation in reproductive success in this model species

Evaluating the reliability of non-specialist observers in the behavioural assessment of semi-captive Asian elephant welfare

Recognising stress is an important component in maintaining the welfare of captive animal populations, and behavioural observation provides a rapid and non-invasive method to do this. Despite substantial testing in zoo elephants, there has been relatively little interest in the application of behavioural assessments to the much larger working populations of Asian elephants across Southeast Asia, which are managed by workers possessing a broad range of behavioural knowledge. Here, we developed a new ethogram of potential stress- and work-related behaviour for a semi-captive population of Asian elephants. We then used this to collect observations from video footage of over 100 elephants and evaluated the reliability of behavioural welfare assessments carried out by non-specialist observers. From observations carried out by different raters with no prior experience of elephant research or management, we tested the reliability of observations between-observers, to assess the general inter-observer agreement, and within-observers, to assess the consistency in behaviour identification. The majority of ethogram behaviours were highly reliable both between- and within-observers, suggesting that overall, behaviour was highly objective and could represent easily recognisable markers for behavioural assessments. Finally, we analysed the repeatability of individual elephant behaviour across behavioural contexts, demonstrating the importance of incorporating a personality element in welfare assessments. Our findings highlight the potential of non-expert observers to contribute to the reliable monitoring of Asian elephant welfare across large captive working populations, which may help to both improve elephant wellbeing and safeguard human workers

The racist bodily imaginary: the image of the body-in-pieces in (post)apartheid culture

This paper outlines a reoccurring motif within the racist imaginary of (post)apartheid culture: the black body-in-pieces. This disturbing visual idiom is approached from three conceptual perspectives. By linking ideas prevalent in Frantz Fanon’s description of colonial racism with psychoanalytic concepts such as Lacan’s notion of the corps morcelé, the paper offers, firstly, an account of the black body-in-pieces as fantasmatic preoccupation of the (post)apartheid imaginary. The role of such images is approached, secondly, through the lens of affect theory which eschews a representational ‘reading’ of such images in favour of attention to their asignifying intensities and the role they play in effectively constituting such bodies. Lastly, Judith Butler’s discussion of war photography and the conditions of grievability introduces an ethical dimension to the discussion and helps draw attention to the unsavory relations of enjoyment occasioned by such images

European regulatory agenices should employ full time statisticians

No abstract available

Development of a GPU-based Monte Carlo dose calculation code for coupled electron-photon transport

Monte Carlo simulation is the most accurate method for absorbed dose calculations in radiotherapy. Its efficiency still requires improvement for routine clinical applications, especially for online adaptive radiotherapy. In this paper, we report our recent development on a GPU-based Monte Carlo dose calculation code for coupled electron-photon transport. We have implemented the Dose Planning Method (DPM) Monte Carlo dose calculation package (Sempau et al, Phys. Med. Biol., 45(2000)2263-2291) on GPU architecture under CUDA platform. The implementation has been tested with respect to the original sequential DPM code on CPU in phantoms with water-lung-water or water-bone-water slab geometry. A 20 MeV mono-energetic electron point source or a 6 MV photon point source is used in our validation. The results demonstrate adequate accuracy of our GPU implementation for both electron and photon beams in radiotherapy energy range. Speed up factors of about 5.0 ~ 6.6 times have been observed, using an NVIDIA Tesla C1060 GPU card against a 2.27GHz Intel Xeon CPU processor.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, and 1 table. Paper revised. Figures update

Applied neurophysiology of the horse; implications for training, husbandry and welfare

Understanding the neural circuits underlying equine behaviour has the potential to help optimise strategies of husbandry and training. This review discusses two areas of neurophysiological research in a range of species and relates this information to the horse. The first discussion focuses on mechanisms of learning and motivation and assesses how this information can be applied to improve the training of the horse. The second concerns the identification of the equine neurophysiological phenotype, through behavioural and genetic probes, as a way of improving strategies for optimal equine husbandry and training success. The review finishes by identifying directions for future research with an emphasis on how neurophysiological systems (and thus behaviour) can be modified through strategic husbandry. This review highlights how a neurophysioloigical understanding of horse behaviour can play an important role in attaining the primary objectives of equitation science as well as improving the welfare of the hors