IMPROVING INTERACTION BETWEEN TECHNICAL AND CONTRACTING PERSONNEL AT NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER, PHILADELPHIA DIVISION

Organizational policy changes in contracting have created a competency gap in the pre-award phase contracting activities for acquisition professionals working in technical departments seeking procurement of products or services. Considering current contracting policies and perceived knowledge gaps in the technical community with respect to contract development, the goal of this research is to examine the organizational structure and policies of Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD) to ensure maximum efficacy of the contracting process. The primary objective of this research is to determine what organizational policies, capability gaps, or other challenges hinder communication and collaboration between the technical and contracting departments at NSWCPD. A secondary objective of this research is to determine what initiatives can be taken at NSWCPD to improve interaction between these two working groups and to document a comprehensive strategic plan for implementation. The research team found several areas worth addressing to improve the efficacy of contract artifact development at NSWCPD. Recommendations are provided to address the communication gap, including establishing an integrated product team to improve the quality of contracting artifacts and networking amongst those teams through working groups, and to capitalize on modern technologies to ensure the production of contracting artifacts are up to speed with current technology.Civilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Communicating Queer Identities Through Personal Narrative and Intersectional Reflexivity

There is currently a lack of intersubjective research involving human participants and conceptual frameworks that include queer theory. Queer theory\u27s poststructuralist epistemology tends toward desubjectification, problematizing research that relies on participants\u27 self-reports of lived experience. The author proposes that the interdisciplinary nature of Communication Studies, which is situated within the humanities and social sciences, leaves communication scholars well poised to contribute to ongoing metatheoretical and metamethodological conversations regarding queer theory and intersubjective research, particularly in relation to cultures and identities. To contribute to this scholarly conversation, the author utilizes the deconstructionist lens of queer theory to contextualize communication, employs personal narrative as methodology informed by the performance paradigm, and co-constructs personal narratives with five queer-identified men in order to explore queer identity in lived experience. While queer theory\u27s anti-essentialist philosophy has been explored and tested through textual analysis, queer scholars have rarely attempted to triangulate their assessment of the heuristic value of queer theory with the lived experiences of people who identify as queer. More specifically, the purpose of this dissertation is to explore how queer men experience their identities in relation to their bodies and personal politics, and how queer men contribute to and contest representations of gay male bodies in popular discourses and gay rights issues in political discourses. Additionally, the author operationalizes intersectional reflexivity as a paramethodological and political commitment throughout the research process. The following themes emerged from the narrative analysis: (1) queer men experience their identities in intersectional and reflexive ways, (2) queer men experience their bodies in relation to narrow and idealized representations of gay male bodies, and attempt to internalize and promote body positivity, (3) queer men espouse political commitments to social justice and coalitional activism that extend beyond legislative activism, (4) queerness in lived experience does not demonstrate the seamless anti-essentialist philosophy of queer theory in that queer men must negotiate ideological tensions grounded in daily practice, (5) experiences of incongruency within various identities leads queer men to develop a queer consciousness that is inherently intersectional and reflexive and creates spaces of possibility for coalitional activism. The narratives are presented using performative writing that captures the vocal and emotional qualities of the spoken words and creates dialogic spaces in which the voices and experiences of queer men become more public, validated, and supported across communities

Cognitive architectures as Lakatosian research programmes: two case studies

Cognitive architectures - task-general theories of the structure and function of the complete cognitive system - are sometimes argued to be more akin to frameworks or belief systems than scientific theories. The argument stems from the apparent non-falsifiability of existing cognitive architectures. Newell was aware of this criticism and argued that architectures should be viewed not as theories subject to Popperian falsification, but rather as Lakatosian research programs based on cumulative growth. Newell's argument is undermined because he failed to demonstrate that the development of Soar, his own candidate architecture, adhered to Lakatosian principles. This paper presents detailed case studies of the development of two cognitive architectures, Soar and ACT-R, from a Lakatosian perspective. It is demonstrated that both are broadly Lakatosian, but that in both cases there have been theoretical progressions that, according to Lakatosian criteria, are pseudo-scientific. Thus, Newell's defense of Soar as a scientific rather than pseudo-scientific theory is not supported in practice. The ACT series of architectures has fewer pseudo-scientific progressions than Soar, but it too is vulnerable to accusations of pseudo-science. From this analysis, it is argued that successive versions of theories of the human cognitive architecture must explicitly address five questions to maintain scientific credibility

Z-2 Prototype Space Suit Development

NASA's Z-2 prototype space suit is the highest fidelity pressure garment from both hardware and systems design perspectives since the Space Shuttle Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) was developed in the late 1970's. Upon completion the Z-2 will be tested in the 11 foot human-rated vacuum chamber and the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) at the NASA Johnson Space Center to assess the design and to determine applicability of the configuration to micro-, low- (asteroid), and planetary- (surface) gravity missions. This paper discusses the 'firsts' that the Z-2 represents. For example, the Z-2 sizes to the smallest suit scye bearing plane distance for at least the last 25 years and is being designed with the most intensive use of human models with the suit model

Z-2 Prototype Space Suit Development

NASA's Z-2 prototype space suit is the highest fidelity pressure garment from both hardware and systems design perspectives since the Shuttle Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) was developed in the late 1970's. Upon completion it will be tested in the 11' humanrated vacuum chamber and the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) at the NASA Johnson Space Center to assess the design and to determine applicability of the configuration to micro-, low- (asteroid), and planetary- (surface) gravity missions. This paper discusses the 'firsts' the Z-2 represents. For example, the Z-2 sizes to the smallest suit scye bearing plane distance for at least the last 25 years and is being designed with the most intensive use of human models with the suit model. The paper also provides a discussion of significant Z-2 configuration features, and how these components evolved from proposal concepts to final designs

Process and apparatus for analyzing specimens for the presence of microorganisms therein

Microorganisms in a specimen are detected, identified, and enumerated by introducing the specimen into a sampling cartridge and diluting the specimen with a known volume of water within the cartridge. The cartridge has a manifold and several cassettes attached to the manifold. Each cassette contains a serpentine flow channel having a series of filters therein and a detection cell located downstream from each filter. The flow channel in each cassette also contains a culture medium which is freeze dried and is highly selective in the sense that it promotes the growth of one type of microorganism, but not others. The mixture of the specimen and water flows from the manifold into the flow channel of each cassette where it rehydrates the culture medium therein and further flows through the filters. Each filter removes a known proportion of the microorganisms from the mixture of specimen, water and medium, thereby effecting a serial dilution. After the cassettes are heated to incubate the microoganisms, the detection cells are observed for growth of the microorganisms therein which is manifested in a change in the light transmitting characteristics of the mixtures within the cells