InfoSwarms: Drone Swarms and Information Warfare

Drone swarms, which can be used at sea, on land, in the air, and even in space, are fundamentally information-dependent weapons. No study to date has examined drone swarms in the context of information warfare writ large. This article explores the dependence of these swarms on information and the resultant connections with areas of information warfare—electronic, cyber, space, and psychological—drawing on open-source research and qualitative reasoning. Overall, the article offers insights into how this important emerging technology fits into the broader defense ecosystem and outlines practical approaches to strengthening related information warfare capabilities

Though This Be Madness, Yet There is Method In’t: Using Graphic Shakespeare Texts to Create Meaningful Engagement in the High School Classroom

This thesis covers the attempt to successfully motivate and connect with high school students by giving them the option of reading a graphic form of Hamlet instead of the original text. This research was conducted to not only dispel the myth that comics and graphic novels are juvenile and adolescent but to also explain the benefits of such texts to educators and administrators. For this research, 10th graders were assigned Hamlet and were allowed to select the graphic text over the traditional text, allowing for student buy-in from the selection. Students also took part in a project that allowed them to explore the themes of Hamlet in a very creative and unique way. The results of the research concluded that not only were the students highly motivated by the project, and made important connections to the text, but the graphic novel readers spent less time reading while scoring higher on assessments. The research presented shows the benefits of the graphic medium while also connecting the skills used to the Common Core State Standards and even parts of the Danielson Framework

Towards a New Era of Journal Publishing: The Coalition of Diamond

Since the early 1990s, the term Open Access has been synonymous with the principle of publishing the scientific results of taxpayer-funded research at low cost and making them available to the public free of charge. In response to increasing academic demand for at least some degree of unrestricted access to research results, this idea of Open Access has been taken up by commercial publishers and harshly altered to accommodate finance models that allow global access to scien-tific and scholarly articles on payment of a publication fee. This has exacerbated the financial burden on universities with a strong publishing portfolio while the annual balance sheet for publishing houses remains unaffected. The new charging models merely transfer the costs incurred from the end of the publication process to the start. A sustainable university-internal, regional or even international reallocation of funds to finance these commercial Open Access models has so far proved unrealistic. In response to these developments, we would like to present The Coalition for Diamond Open Ac-cess Publishing (COAP), an international support network for the publication of Diamond Open Ac-cess Journals at universities. As a cooperation of scientists, academic associations and libraries, COAP creates the necessary technical and organizational conditions, infrastructure and standards for the publication of competitive diamond open access articles. While there are already numerous initiatives pursuing the goal of low-cost publishing, many of these projects are limited by region or subject specific. Some set methodological priorities, others are developing models to increase the efficiency of Open Access publications. All of these show how extensive, but also disparate the interest in restructuring the Open Access market is. What is lacking is a concentrated networking of the respective service providers in the Diamond Open Access sector with scientists and their representatives, and of the service providers in the Open Access sector with each other. It is, however, only in this combination that a sustainable restructuring of the publication landscape would be possible. This is where COAP comes into play. Providing a decentralized publication infrastructure supported by a collaborative network of academic institutions and scientists, COAP aims to shape a new era of independent scholar-led publishing. We would be pleased to present COAP to a broad international audience at the 42nd IATUL Conference

Windswept

craft of making forges a strong connection to my ancestors who also engaged in textiles and clothing. Draping fabric, hearing the whir of the sewing machine, and hand-printing pattern on cloth recalls images of making doll clothes alongside my mother and watching my grandmother knit spectacular patterns from memory

Thin-film sulfuric acid anodizing as a replacement for chromic acid anodizing

Chromic acid has long been used to produce a thin, corrosion resistant (Type I) coating on aluminum. Following anodizing, the hardware was sealed using a sodium dichromate solution. Sealing closes up pores inherent in the anodized coating, thus improving corrosion resistance. The thinness of the brittle coating is desirable from a fatigue standpoint, and chromium was absorbed by the coating during the sealing process, further improving corrosion resistance. Unfortunately, both chromic acid and sodium dichromate contain carcinogenic hexavalent chromium. Sulfuric acid is being considered as a replacement for chromic acid. Sulfuric acid of 10-20 percent concentration has traditionally been used to produce relatively thick (Types II and III) or abrasion resistant (Type III) coatings. A more dilute, that is five weight percent, sulfuric acid anodizing process, which produces a thinner coating than Type II or III, with nickel acetate as the sealant has been developed. The process was evaluated in regard to corrosion resistance, throwing power, fatigue life, and processing variable sensitivity, and shows promise as a replacement for the chromic acid process

Redox-basierte Mechanismen der Sensibilisierung bei neuropathischen Schmerzen

Bei Entzündung oder Verletzung peripherer Gewebe und Nerven kommt es zur Bildung reaktiver Sauerstoffspezies (ROS) im schmerzleitenden System. Welche ROS-generierenden Systeme hierbei beteiligt sind, ist jedoch nur ansatzweise verstanden. In der vorliegenden Arbeit konnte gezeigt werden, dass die ROS-produzierende NADPH Oxidase 4 (Nox4) einen wichtigen ROS-Generator im nozizeptiven System darstellt. Nox4 wird in unmyelinisierten nicht-peptidergen sowie in myelinisierten primär afferenten Neuronen exprimiert. In Modellen für akute und inflammatorische Schmerzen zeigten Nox4-/--Mäuse ein ähnliches Verhalten wie ihre wildtypischen Wurfgeschwister, jedoch war ihr Schmerzverhalten in Modellen für neuropathische Schmerzen reduziert. Eine Microarray-Analyse des lumbalen Rückenmarks nach peripherer Nervenverletzung zeigte eine Hochregulation der Expression Myelin-spezifischer Gene in Wildtyp-, nicht aber in Nox4-/- Mäusen. Darüber hinaus wurden in Wildtyp-Mäusen Myelin-spezifische Proteine im N. ischiadicus nach peripherer Nervenverletzung herab reguliert, während in Nox4-/--Mäusen keine Regulation dieser Proteine beobachtet wurde. Diese Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass Nox4 eine essentielle Rolle bei Myelinisierungsprozessen spielt und so die Verarbeitung neuropathischer Schmerzsignale beeinflusst. Neben dem ROS-produzierenden System Nox4 wurde auch die Rolle des Peroxid-abbauenden Proteins Sestrin 2 (Sesn2) im nozizeptiven System untersucht. Nach peripherer Nervenverletzung wurde Sesn2-mRNA in den Spinalganglien und Sesn2-Protein im peripheren Nerv hochreguliert. Sesn2-/--Mäuse zeigten ein normales Verhalten in Modellen für akute und inflammatorische Schmerzen. Ihr Schmerzverhalten war jedoch im Formalin-Test und nach peripherer Nervenverletzung verstärkt. Diese Ergebnisse lassen vermuten, dass sowohl Nox4 als auch Sesn2 bei der Verarbeitung neuropathischer Schmerzsignale wichtige Funktionen einnehmen. Während Nox4 pronozizeptiv wirkt, weist Sesn2 antinozizeptive Effekte auf. Die Produktion reaktiver Sauerstoffspezies scheint daher ein wichtiger endogener Faktor der Sensibilisierung im Rahmen von neuropathischen Schmerzen zu sein.Damage or inflammation of tissues and peripheral nerves leads to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the nociceptive system. However, little is known about pain-relevant ROS generating systems. In the present work the ROS producing NADPH oxidase 4 (Nox4) was identified as an important ROS generator in the nociceptive system. Nox4 is expressed in a subset of nonpeptidergic nonmyelinated and myelinated primary afferent neurons. Nox4-/- mice demonstrated a normal nociceptive behavior in models of acute and inflammatory pain, however their nociceptive behavior was reduced in models of neuropathic pain. A microarray screen of the lumbal spinal cord after peripheral nerve injury revealed an induction of myelin specific genes in wildtype mice but not in Nox4-/- mice. Moreover, peripheral myelin specific proteins were downregulated in wildtype mice after peripheral nerve injury while there was no regulation of these proteins in Nox4-/- mice. These results indicate that Nox4 plays an essential role during myelination processes that may contribute to the processing of neuropathic pain. In addition to Nox4 the role of the peroxide degrading protein Sestrin 2 (Sesn2) in the nociceptive system was investigated. After peripheral nerve injury Sesn2 mRNA is induced in dorsal root ganglia and Sesn2 protein is upregulated in the peripheral nerve. Sesn2-/- mice demonstrated a normal behavior in models of acute and inflammatory pain. However, their neuropathic pain behavior was enhanced after peripheral nerve injury. These results suggest that Nox4 and Sesn2 essentially contribute to the processing of neuropathic pain. Nox4 acts in a pronociceptive manner, while Sesn2 demonstrates antinociceptive effects. Therefore the production of ROS seems to be an important endogenous factor that contributes to neuropathic pain processing.

The Stockholm Convention:A Tool for the Global Regulation of Persistent Organic Pollutants

The aim of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is to eliminate persistent organic chemicals worldwide by either prohibiting their production and use or gradually reducing them. The Stockholm Convention was adopted in 2001 and entered into force in 2004, 90 days after receiving the 50th instrument of ratification. The Parties to the Convention have to regularly report progress in implementation of their measures taken to achieve the goals. The Convention has a mechanism to add more compounds; today 28 POPs are covered, 16 more than the initial ones

Chemicals of Emerging Arctic Concern in north-western Spitsbergen snow: Distribution and sources

Personal care products contain chemicals that are considered of emerging concern in the Arctic. In this study, a selected group of personal care products was investigated in the snowpack on north-western Spitsbergen. We report a preliminary study on the spatial and seasonal distribution of 13 ingredients commonly found in personal care products, including fragrance materials, UV filters, BHT and BPA. Possible sources and deposition processes are discussed. Experimental analyses utilizing GC–MS/MS, were complemented with outputs from the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model. The results reveal the presence of all selected compounds in the snow, both in proximity to and distant from the research village of Ny-Ålesund. For some of these chemicals this is the first time their presence is reported in snow in Svalbard. These chemicals show different partitioning behaviours between the particulate and dissolved phases, affecting their transport and deposition processes. Additionally, concentrations of certain compounds vary across different altitudes. It is observed the relevance of long-range atmospheric transport during winter at most sites, and, regardless of the proximity to human settlements, snow concentrations can be influenced by long-distance sources. This study highlights the need for detailed information on CEACs' physical-chemical properties, considering their potential impact on fresh and marine waters during the snowmelt under climate change