An Analysis of Information Referenced Testing as an Air Force Assessment Tool

The Department of Defense (DOD) has placed a great deal of importance on training and education, throughout all areas of infrastructure development and force implementation. A more knowledgeable operating unit, in any situation, is consistently the deciding factor for success. The United States Air Force, too, has emphasized this ideal and sought to employ those persons most qualified for the required task. Yet, problems within the classroom and various training venues are always present and should be continually marked for improvement. Existing assessment techniques should provide an accurate account of the quality of information learned by DOD personnel. This is undoubtedly crucial to war and peacetime functions. Therefore, testing as an assessment tool should be challenged, and new procedures - if deemed effective - should be recognized and introduced

Comparing Climate-Change Mitigating Potentials of Alternative Synthetic Liquid Fuel Technologies Using Biomass and Coal

Presenter: Robert H. Williams, Senior Research Scientist, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. 19 pages (includes color illustrations). Contains references

Inflation Reduction Act impacts on the economics of clean hydrogen and liquid fuels

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the United States provides unprecedented incentives for deploying low-carbon hydrogen and liquid fuels, among other low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions technologies. To better understand the prospective competitiveness of low-carbon or negative-carbon hydrogen and liquid fuels under the IRA in the early 2030s, we examine the impacts of IRA provisions on costs of producing hydrogen and synthetic liquid fuel made from natural gas, electricity, short-cycle biomass (agricultural residues), and corn-ethanol. With IRA credits (45V or 45Q), but excluding incentives provided by other national or state policies, hydrogen produced by electrolysis using carbon-free electricity (green H2) and natural gas reforming with carbon capture and storage (CCS) (blue H2) are cost-competitive with the carbon-intensive benchmark gray H2 from steam methane reforming. Biomass-derived H2 with or without CCS is not cost-completive under current IRA provisions. However, if IRA allowed biomass gasification with CCS to claim a 45V credit for carbon-neutral H2 and a 45Q credit for negative biogenic-CO2 emissions, this pathway would be less costly than gray H2. The IRA credit for clean fuels (45Z), currently stipulated to end in 2027, would need to be extended, or similar policy support provided by other national or state policies, for clean synthetic liquid fuel to be cost-competitive with petroleum-derived liquid fuels. Levelized IRA subsidies per unit of CO2 mitigated for all hydrogen and synthetic liquid fuel production pathways, except electricity-derived synthetic liquid fuel, range from 65 to 384 $/t CO2, which is within or below the range in U.S. federal government estimates of the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) in the 2030 to 2040 timeframe

Dark cloud cores and gravitational decoupling from turbulent flows

We test the hypothesis that the starless cores may be gravitationally bound clouds supported largely by thermal pressure by comparing observed molecular line spectra to theoretical spectra produced by a simulation that includes hydrodynamics, radiative cooling, variable molecular abundance, and radiative transfer in a simple one-dimensional model. The results suggest that the starless cores can be divided into two categories: stable starless cores that are in approximate equilibrium and will not evolve to form protostars, and unstable pre-stellar cores that are proceeding toward gravitational collapse and the formation of protostars. The starless cores might be formed from the interstellar medium as objects at the lower end of the inertial cascade of interstellar turbulence. Additionally, we identify a thermal instability in the starless cores. Under par ticular conditions of density and mass, a core may be unstable to expansion if the density is just above the critical density for the collisional coupling of the gas and dust so that as the core expands the gas-dust coupling that cools the gas is reduced and the gas warms, further driving the expansion.Comment: Submitted to Ap

Systematic Multi-Domain Alzheimer's Risk Reduction Trial (SMARRT): Study Protocol.

This article describes the protocol for the Systematic Multi-domain Alzheimer's Risk Reduction Trial (SMARRT), a single-blind randomized pilot trial to test a personalized, pragmatic, multi-domain Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk reduction intervention in a US integrated healthcare delivery system. Study participants will be 200 higher-risk older adults (age 70-89 years with subjective cognitive complaints, low normal performance on cognitive screen, and ≥ two modifiable risk factors targeted by our intervention) who will be recruited from selected primary care clinics of Kaiser Permanente Washington, oversampling people with non-white race or Hispanic ethnicity. Study participants will be randomly assigned to a two-year Alzheimer's risk reduction intervention (SMARRT) or a Health Education (HE) control. Randomization will be stratified by clinic, race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic white versus non-white or Hispanic), and age (70-79, 80-89). Participants randomized to the SMARRT group will work with a behavioral coach and nurse to develop a personalized plan related to their risk factors (poorly controlled hypertension, diabetes with evidence of hyper or hypoglycemia, depressive symptoms, poor sleep quality, contraindicated medications, physical inactivity, low cognitive stimulation, social isolation, poor diet, smoking). Participants in the HE control group will be mailed general health education information about these risk factors for AD. The primary outcome is two-year cognitive change on a cognitive test composite score. Secondary outcomes include: 1) improvement in targeted risk factors, 2) individual cognitive domain composite scores, 3) physical performance, 4) functional ability, 5) quality of life, and 6) incidence of mild cognitive impairment, AD, and dementia. Primary and secondary outcomes will be assessed in both groups at baseline and 6, 12, 18, and 24 months

Visualization of circular DNA molecules labeled with colloidal gold spheres using atomic force microscopy

We have imaged gold‐labeled DNA molecules with the atomic force microscope(AFM). Circular plasmid DNA was labeled at internal positions by nick‐translation using biotinylated dUTP. For visualization, the biotinylated DNA was linked to streptavidin‐coated colloidal gold spheres (nominally 5 nm diam) prior to AFM imaging. Reproducible images of the labeled DNA were obtained both in dry air and under propanol. Height measurements of the DNA and colloidal gold made under both conditions are presented. The stability of the DNA‐streptavidin colloidal gold complexes observed even under propanol suggests that this labeling procedure could be exploited to map regions of interest in chromosomal DNA

Observations on the Formation of Massive Stars by Accretion

Observations of the H66a recombination line from the ionized gas in the cluster of newly formed massive stars, G10.6-0.4, show that most of the continuum emission derives from the dense gas in an ionized accretion flow that forms an ionized disk or torus around a group of stars in the center of the cluster. The inward motion observed in the accretion flow suggests that despite the equivalent luminosity and ionizing radiation of several O stars, neither radiation pressure nor thermal pressure has reversed the accretion flow. The observations indicate why the radiation pressure of the stars and the thermal pressure of the HII region are not effective in reversing the accretion flow. The observed rate of the accretion flow, 0.001 solar masses/yr, is sufficient to form massive stars within the time scale imposed by their short main sequence lifetimes. A simple model of disk accretion relates quenched HII regions, trapped hypercompact HII regions, and photo-evaporating disks in an evolutionary sequence

Complete atrial-specific knockout of sodium-calcium exchange eliminates sinoatrial node pacemaker activity.

The origin of sinoatrial node (SAN) pacemaker activity in the heart is controversial. The leading candidates are diastolic depolarization by "funny" current (If) through HCN4 channels (the "Membrane Clock" hypothesis), depolarization by cardiac Na-Ca exchange (NCX1) in response to intracellular Ca cycling (the "Calcium Clock" hypothesis), and a combination of the two ("Coupled Clock"). To address this controversy, we used Cre/loxP technology to generate atrial-specific NCX1 KO mice. NCX1 protein was undetectable in KO atrial tissue, including the SAN. Surface ECG and intracardiac electrograms showed no atrial depolarization and a slow junctional escape rhythm in KO that responded appropriately to β-adrenergic and muscarinic stimulation. Although KO atria were quiescent they could be stimulated by external pacing suggesting that electrical coupling between cells remained intact. Despite normal electrophysiological properties of If in isolated patch clamped KO SAN cells, pacemaker activity was absent. Recurring Ca sparks were present in all KO SAN cells, suggesting that Ca cycling persists but is uncoupled from the sarcolemma. We conclude that NCX1 is required for normal pacemaker activity in murine SAN

Automated Synthesis of Quantum Subcircuits

The quantum computer has become contemporary reality, with the first two-qubit machine of mere decades ago transforming into cloud-accessible devices with tens, hundreds, or--in a few cases--even thousands of qubits. While such hardware is noisy and still relatively small, the increasing number of operable qubits raises another challenge: how to develop the now-sizeable quantum circuits executable on these machines. Preparing circuits manually for specifications of any meaningful size is at best tedious and at worst impossible, creating a need for automation. This article describes an automated quantum-software toolkit for synthesis, compilation, and optimization, which transforms classically-specified, irreversible functions to both technology-independent and technology-dependent quantum circuits. We also describe and analyze the toolkit's application to three situations--quantum read-only memories, quantum random number generators, and quantum oracles--and illustrate the toolkit's start-to-finish features from the input of classical functions to the output of quantum circuits ready-to-run on commercial hardware. Furthermore, we illustrate how the toolkit enables research beyond circuit synthesis, including comparison of synthesis and optimization methods and deeper understanding of even well-studied quantum algorithms. As quantum hardware continues to develop, such quantum circuit toolkits will play a critical role in realizing its potential.Comment: 49 pages, 25 figures, 20 table

Reproductive Ecology Of The Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma Coerulescens) On John F. Kennedy Space Center/Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge: A Long-Term Study

From 1988 to 2002 we studied the breeding ecology of Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) on John F. Kennedy Space Center/Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. We examined phenology, clutch size, hatching failure rates, fledgling production, nest success, predation rates, sources egg and nestling mortality, and the effects of helpers on these measures. Nesting phenology was similar among sites. Mean clutch size at Titan was significantly larger than at HC or T4. Pairs with helpers did not produce larger clutches than pairs without helpers. Fledgling production at T4 was significantly greater than at HC and similar to Titan. Pairs with helpers at HC produced significantly more fledglings than pairs without helpers; helpers did not influence fledgling production at the other sites. Nest success at HC and Titan was low, 19% and 32% respectively. Nest success at T4 was 48% and was significantly greater than at HC. Average predation rates at all sites increased with season progression. Predation rates at all sight rose sharply by early June. The main cause of nest failure at all sites was predation, 93%