Using Simulation to Model Time Utilization of Army Recruiters

It is a well-known fact Army recruiters work very long hours in a demanding environment. In many cases, recruiting stations are geographically isolated from military bases, with recruiters often tolerating a high cost of living, crime, and other such adverse conditions that characterize the communities they work in. The job itself demands self-starting, motivated individuals with a wide range of skills, from street-savvy to salesmanship, in order to succeed. A number of factors in recent years have made military recruiting more difficult, which include scandals involving highly-placed soldiers and changes in attitudes towards military service among eligible men and women. A recent mission increase has exacerbated this problem even further for the many recruiters who must shoulder this burden. Unlike previous studies which have concentrated on the effects of advertisements and other determinants of enlistments in the Army, this study instead focuses on the individual recruiters themselves, with the ultimate purpose of defining the relationship between the various recruiter tasks and the end product - qualified Army recruits. The key step towards the accomplishment of this goal was the determination of which factors influence recruiter effectiveness. In the course of developing a model and subsequent computer simulation of the recruiting process, a thorough process flow description of the major recruiter tasks was generated. Task completion times were estimated on the basis of empirical studies of actual recruiting stations in anticipation of their use as model input parameters. All of this information was then incorporated into working Simprocess and ModSim computer simulations of a single recruiting station with an arbitrary number of recruiters

Frenzy: Collaborative data organization for creating conference sessions

Organizing conference sessions around themes improves the experience for attendees. However, the session creation process can be difficult and time-consuming due to the amount of expertise and effort required to consider alternative paper groupings. We present a collaborative web application called Frenzy to draw on the efforts and knowledge of an entire program committee. Frenzy comprises (a) interfaces to support large numbers of experts working collectively to create sessions, and (b) a two-stage process that decomposes the session-creation problem into meta-data elicitation and global constraint satisfaction. Meta-data elicitation involves a large group of experts working simultaneously, while global constraint satisfaction involves a smaller group that uses the meta-data to form sessions. We evaluated Frenzy with 48 people during a deployment at the CSCW 2014 program committee meeting. The session making process was much faster than the traditional process, taking 88 minutes instead of a full day. We found that meta-data elicitation was useful for session creation. Moreover, the sessions created by Frenzy were the basis of the CSCW 2014 schedule.Ford-MIT AllianceNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award SOCS-1111124)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award SOCS-1208382)United States. Office of Naval Research (Grant N00014-12-1-0211)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant IIS 1016713)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant IIS-1110965

Adhesion of alumina surfaces through confined water layers containing various molecules

When two surfaces confine water layers between them at the nanoscale, the behaviour of these confined water molecules can deviate significantly from the behaviour of bulk water and it could reflect on the adhesion of such surfaces. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the role of confined water layers on the adhesion of hydrophilic surfaces and how sensitive this adhesion is to the presence of contaminants. Our methodology used under water AFM force measurements with an alumina sputtered sphere-tipped cantilever and a flat alumina single crystal, then added fractions of ethanol, dimethylformamide, formamide, trimethylamine, and trehalose to water, as contaminants. Such solutions were designed to illuminate the influences of dielectric constant, molecular size, refractive index and number of hydrogen bonds from donors and acceptors of solutes to water. Apart from very dilute solutions of dimethylformamide, all solutions decreased the ability of confined water to give adhesion of the alumina surfaces. The predicted theoretical contribution of van der Waals and electrostatic forces was not observed when the contaminants distorted the way water organizes itself in confinement. The conclusion was that adhesion was sensitive mostly to hydrogen bonding network within water layers confined by the hydrophilic alumina surfaces

The inner junction protein CFAP20 functions in motile and non-motile cilia and is critical for vision

Motile and non-motile cilia are associated with mutually-exclusive genetic disorders. Motile cilia propel sperm or extracellular fluids, and their dysfunction causes primary ciliary dyskinesia. Non-motile cilia serve as sensory/signalling antennae on most cell types, and their disruption causes single-organ ciliopathies such as retinopathies or multi-system syndromes. CFAP20 is a ciliopathy candidate known to modulate motile cilia in unicellular eukaryotes. We demonstrate that in zebrafish, cfap20 is required for motile cilia function, and in C. elegans, CFAP-20 maintains the structural integrity of non-motile cilia inner junctions, influencing sensory-dependent signalling and development. Human patients and zebrafish with CFAP20 mutations both exhibit retinal dystrophy. Hence, CFAP20 functions within a structural/functional hub centered on the inner junction that is shared between motile and non-motile cilia, and is distinct from other ciliopathy-associated domains or macromolecular complexes. Our findings suggest an uncharacterised pathomechanism for retinal dystrophy, and potentially for motile and non-motile ciliopathies in general

Pain in individuals with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, other systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases, and without rheumatic diseases: A report from the COVAD study

OBJECTIVES: To compare pain intensity among individuals with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs), other systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRDs), and without rheumatic disease (wAIDs). METHODS: Data were collected from the COVID-19 Vaccination in Autoimmune Diseases (COVAD) study, an international cross-sectional online survey, from December 2020 to August 2021. Pain experienced in the preceding week was assessed using numeral rating scale (NRS). We performed a negative binomial regression analysis to assess pain in IIMs subtypes and whether demographics, disease activity, general health status, and physical function had an impact on pain scores. RESULTS: Of 6988 participants included, 15.1% had IIMs, 27.9% had other AIRDs, and 57.0% were wAIDs. The median pain NRS in patients with IIMs, other AIRDs, and wAIDs were 2.0 (interquartile range [IQR] = 1.0-5.0), 3.0 (IQR = 1.0-6.0), and 1.0 (IQR = 0-2.0), respectively (P < 0.001). Regression analysis adjusted for gender, age, and ethnicity revealed that overlap myositis and antisynthetase syndrome had the highest pain (NRS = 4.0, 95% CI = 3.5-4.5, and NRS = 3.6, 95% CI = 3.1-4.1, respectively). An additional association between pain and poor functional status was observed in all groups. Female gender was associated with higher pain scores in almost all scenarios. Increasing age was associated with higher pain NRS scores in some scenarios of disease activity, and Asian and Hispanic ethnicities had reduced pain scores in some functional status scenarios. CONCLUSION: Patients with IIMs reported higher pain levels than wAIDs, but less than patients with other AIRDs. Pain is a disabling manifestation of IIMs and is associated with a poor functional status

Amazon Basin forest pyrogenic carbon stocks: First estimate of deep storage

Amazon Basin forest soils contain considerable soil organic carbon stocks; however, the contribution of soil pyrogenic carbon (PyC) to the total is unknown. PyC is derived from local fires (historical and modern) and external inputs via aeolian deposition. To establish an initial estimate of PyC stocks in non-terra preta forest with no known history of fire, to assess site and vertical variability, as well as to determine optimal sampling design, we sampled 37 one hectare forest plots in the Amazon Basin and analysed PyC via hydrogen pyrolysis of three individual samples per plot and of bulked samples to 200 cm depth. Using our data and published total organic carbon stocks, we present the first field-based estimate of total PyC stock for the Amazon Basin of 1.10 Pg over 0–30 cm soil depth, and 2.76 Pg over 0–100 cm soil depth. This is up to 20 times higher than previously assumed. Three individual samples per 1 ha are sufficient to capture the site variability of PyC in our plots. PyC showed significant, large-scale variability among plots. To capture 50% of the PyC in 200 cm soil profiles, soil must be sampled to a depth of at least 71 cm. PyC represents a significant (11%) portion of total organic carbon in soil profiles 0–200 cm depth. This finding highlights the potentially important role that historical fire has played in modifying soil C stocks. Our data suggest that PyC is an important carbon pool for long-term storage, involved in millennial scale biogeochemical cycling, particularly in the subsurface soil

The inner junction protein CFAP20 functions in motile and non-motile cilia and is critical for vision

Motile and non-motile cilia are associated with mutually-exclusive genetic disorders. Motile cilia propel sperm or extracellular fluids, and their dysfunction causes primary ciliary dyskinesia. Non-motile cilia serve as sensory/signalling antennae on most cell types, and their disruption causes single-organ ciliopathies such as retinopathies or multi-system syndromes. CFAP20 is a ciliopathy candidate known to modulate motile cilia in unicellular eukaryotes. We demonstrate that in zebrafish, cfap20 is required for motile cilia function, and in C. elegans, CFAP-20 maintains the structural integrity of non-motile cilia inner junctions, influencing sensory-dependent signalling and development. Human patients and zebrafish with CFAP20 mutations both exhibit retinal dystrophy. Hence, CFAP20 functions within a structural/functional hub centered on the inner junction that is shared between motile and non-motile cilia, and is distinct from other ciliopathy-associated domains or macromolecular complexes. Our findings suggest an uncharacterised pathomechanism for retinal dystrophy, and potentially for motile and non-motile ciliopathies in general.</p

The phenotype of Floating-Harbor syndrome: Clinical characterization of 52 individuals with mutations in exon 34 of SRCAP

Background: Floating-Harbor syndrome (FHS) is a rare condition characterized by short stature, delays in expressive language, and a distinctive facial appearance. Recently, heterozygous truncating mutations in SRCAP were determined to be disease-causing. With the availability of a DNA based confirmatory test, we set forth to define the clinical features of this syndrome. Methods and results. Clinical information on fifty-two individuals with SRCAP mutations was collected using standardized questionnaires. Twenty-four males and twenty-eight females were studied with ages ranging from

The phenotype of floating-harbor syndrome:clinical characterization of 52 individuals with mutations in exon 34 of SRCAP

Background\ud Floating-Harbor syndrome (FHS) is a rare condition characterized by short stature, delays in expressive language, and a distinctive facial appearance. Recently, heterozygous truncating mutations in SRCAP were determined to be disease-causing. With the availability of a DNA based confirmatory test, we set forth to define the clinical features of this syndrome.\ud \ud Methods and results\ud Clinical information on fifty-two individuals with SRCAP mutations was collected using standardized questionnaires. Twenty-four males and twenty-eight females were studied with ages ranging from 2 to 52 years. The facial phenotype and expressive language impairments were defining features within the group. Height measurements were typically between minus two and minus four standard deviations, with occipitofrontal circumferences usually within the average range. Thirty-three of the subjects (63%) had at least one major anomaly requiring medical intervention. We did not observe any specific phenotype-genotype correlations.\ud \ud Conclusions\ud This large cohort of individuals with molecularly confirmed FHS has allowed us to better delineate the clinical features of this rare but classic genetic syndrome, thereby facilitating the development of management protocols.The authors would like to thank the families for their cooperation and permission to publish these findings. SdM would like to thank Barto Otten. Funding was provided by the Government of Canada through Genome Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI-049), by Genome Québec and Genome British Columbia, and the Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research at Children’s Hospital Boston. KMB is supported by a Clinical Investigatorship Award from the CIHR Institute of Genetics. AD is supported by NIH grant K23HD073351. BBAdV and HGB were financially supported by the AnEUploidy project (LSHG-CT-2006-37627). This work was selected for study by the FORGE Canada Steering Committee, which consists of K. Boycott (University of Ottawa), J. Friedman (University of British Columbia), J. Michaud (University of Montreal), F. Bernier (University of Calgary), M. Brudno (University of Toronto), B. Fernandez (Memorial University), B. Knoppers (McGill University), M. Samuels (Université de Montréal), and S. Scherer (University of Toronto). We thank the Galliera Genetic Bank - “Telethon Genetic Biobank Network” supported by Italian Telethon grants (project no. GTB07001) for providing us with specimens

Genome of Herbaspirillum seropedicae Strain SmR1, a Specialized Diazotrophic Endophyte of Tropical Grasses

The molecular mechanisms of plant recognition, colonization, and nutrient exchange between diazotrophic endophytes and plants are scarcely known. Herbaspirillum seropedicae is an endophytic bacterium capable of colonizing intercellular spaces of grasses such as rice and sugar cane. The genome of H. seropedicae strain SmR1 was sequenced and annotated by The Paraná State Genome Programme—GENOPAR. The genome is composed of a circular chromosome of 5,513,887 bp and contains a total of 4,804 genes. The genome sequence revealed that H. seropedicae is a highly versatile microorganism with capacity to metabolize a wide range of carbon and nitrogen sources and with possession of four distinct terminal oxidases. The genome contains a multitude of protein secretion systems, including type I, type II, type III, type V, and type VI secretion systems, and type IV pili, suggesting a high potential to interact with host plants. H. seropedicae is able to synthesize indole acetic acid as reflected by the four IAA biosynthetic pathways present. A gene coding for ACC deaminase, which may be involved in modulating the associated plant ethylene-signaling pathway, is also present. Genes for hemagglutinins/hemolysins/adhesins were found and may play a role in plant cell surface adhesion. These features may endow H. seropedicae with the ability to establish an endophytic life-style in a large number of plant species