Curriculum Development at Defense Security Cooperation University

American Council on Women Peace and Security Founder, Dr. Susan Yoshihara, and Fellow, Dr. Grace Hoffman design, develop, and implement tailored WPS curricula. They will speak about their work at Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU). At DSCU, their team integrated WPS into training, certification, and graduate education. The hallmarks of their approach include close working relationships with the faculty, alignment with U.S. law, understanding of international and partner nation WPS perspectives and mandates, and the highest standards of scholarship. They believe that the faculty are the best educators of WPS within their courses due to their mastery of the material. Security cooperation is the main way DoD implements WPS and DSCU teaches and certifies the 18,000-strong security cooperation workforce. Dr. Yoshihara will explain the way her team analyzed curriculum and tailored WPS for key courses with a view to how NWC faculty can approach Joint Military Operations and National Security Affairs. Dr. Hoffman will speak from the perspective of both a WPS instructor at DSCU and as a historian, who recognized the value of WPS to her own historical research. She will address how WPS can add value and bring new knowledge to courses that focus on historical cases.https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/wps/1010/thumbnail.jp

Computational Enterprise Modeling and Simulation: Enabling Enterprise Performance Improvement, Modernization and Transformation

Lean Advancement Initiative Annual Conference presentatio

From What We Eat, We Define Ourselves: The Creative Fictions and Nonfictions of Contemporary Food

This panel, made up of current and former Winthrop writing students and of current Winthrop faculty seeks to look creatively at the myriad of ways in which the food we eat might offer another helpful entrance point into defining our identity

Comparison of Water-Soluble CBD and CBD Oil as an Anti-Inflammatory in Canines with Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is one of the most common forms of arthritis in canines. Osteoarthritis affects the entire joint, and typically results in pain, inflammation, decreased range of motion and development of bone spurs. The purpose of this study was to provide clinical research comparing Water-Soluble Cannabidiol (CBD) and Cannabidiol (CBD) oil as an anti-inflammatory in arthritic dogs by using gait analysis on the Tekscan Strideway System, Canine Brief Pain Inventory owner surveys, and analysis of blood test results. One clinical trial was conducted with thirteen privately owned dogs. Participants were split into three treatment groups by listing them by last names and labeling them 1,2,3,1,2,3, etc. The first group was given CBD oil daily for the entirety of the 8-week clinical trial, the second group was given Water-Soluble CBD daily for the entirety of the 8-week clinical trial, and the third group was given placebo daily for the entirety of the 8-week clinical trial. Gait analysis results did not show improvement in gait and body weight distribution in either treatment group, nor did they show that the Water-Soluble CBD had increased improvement compared to the CBD oil. Canine Brief Pain Inventory Surveys did not show significant reductions in pain severity scores and pain interference scores in the Water-Soluble CBD group and the placebo group but did show significant reduction in the CBD oil group in 4 of the 5 patients. The chemistry panel and Complete Blood Count (CBC) did not show significant overall effect on liver and kidney functions in any of the canines

PainDroid: An android-based virtual reality application for pain assessment

Earlier studies in the field of pain research suggest that little efficient intervention currently exists in response to the exponential increase in the prevalence of pain. In this paper, we present an Android application (PainDroid) with multimodal functionality that could be enhanced with Virtual Reality (VR) technology, which has been designed for the purpose of improving the assessment of this notoriously difficult medical concern. Pain- Droid has been evaluated for its usability and acceptability with a pilot group of potential users and clinicians, with initial results suggesting that it can be an effective and usable tool for improving the assessment of pain. Participant experiences indicated that the application was easy to use and the potential of the application was similarly appreciated by the clinicians involved in the evaluation. Our findings may be of considerable interest to healthcare providers, policy makers, and other parties that might be actively involved in the area of pain and VR research

MM Algorithms for Geometric and Signomial Programming

This paper derives new algorithms for signomial programming, a generalization of geometric programming. The algorithms are based on a generic principle for optimization called the MM algorithm. In this setting, one can apply the geometric-arithmetic mean inequality and a supporting hyperplane inequality to create a surrogate function with parameters separated. Thus, unconstrained signomial programming reduces to a sequence of one-dimensional minimization problems. Simple examples demonstrate that the MM algorithm derived can converge to a boundary point or to one point of a continuum of minimum points. Conditions under which the minimum point is unique or occurs in the interior of parameter space are proved for geometric programming. Convergence to an interior point occurs at a linear rate. Finally, the MM framework easily accommodates equality and inequality constraints of signomial type. For the most important special case, constrained quadratic programming, the MM algorithm involves very simple updates.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figur

Purification and Characterization of Two New Allergens from the Venom of Vespa magnifica

Due to poor diagnostic facilities and a lack of medical alertness, allergy to Vespa wasps may be underestimated. Few allergens have been identified from Vespa wasps

Exome Sequencing Identifies Compound Heterozygous Mutations in CYP4V2 in a Pedigree with Retinitis Pigmentosa

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a heterogeneous group of progressive retinal degenerations characterized by pigmentation and atrophy in the mid-periphery of the retina. Twenty two subjects from a four-generation Chinese family with RP and thin cornea, congenital cataract and high myopia is reported in this study. All family members underwent complete ophthalmologic examinations. Patients of the family presented with bone spicule-shaped pigment deposits in retina, retinal vascular attenuation, retinal and choroidal dystrophy, as well as punctate opacity of the lens, reduced cornea thickness and high myopia. Peripheral venous blood was obtained from all patients and their family members for genetic analysis. After mutation analysis in a few known RP candidate genes, exome sequencing was used to analyze the exomes of 3 patients III2, III4, III6 and the unaffected mother II2. A total of 34,693 variations shared by 3 patients were subjected to several filtering steps against existing variation databases. Identified variations were verified in the rest family members by PCR and Sanger sequencing. Compound heterozygous c.802-8_810del17insGC and c.1091-2A>G mutations of the CYP4V2 gene, known as genetic defects for Bietti crystalline corneoretinal dystrophy, were identified as causative mutations for RP of this family

Successful Internalization of a Chronic Biliary Cutaneous Fistula After Liver Transplantation: Deepithelializing the Fistula Tract

Biliary cutaneous fistulas are uncommon sequelae after biliary surgery and can be a source of significant morbidity. We describe a liver recipient who developed a biliary cutaneous fistula secondary to hepatic artery thrombosis; this subsequently drained for over 7 years. Through a novel approach, using the transabdominal fistula tract as a conduit, the fistula skin opening was deepithelialized and anastomosed to a jejunal loop, internally draining the tract. For over 7 years postoperatively, this internal drainage procedure has continued to function effectively. This approach may have value in internalizing longstanding biliary cutaneous fistulas in well-selected patients in whom there is no existing biliary ductal system or the existing system anatomically does not lend itself to restoration of functional internal drainage through conventional approaches