SOF TALENT PROFILES: HOW TO LEVERAGE PERFORMANCE DATA FOR QUALITATIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT

Special Operations Forces (SOF) face a talent retention problem. They currently retain significantly less than their optimal officer manning after their O-3 Key Development positions. One of the main challenges is an impersonal talent management system. SOF organizations collect large amounts of data on their personnel that can be leveraged to address this problem. During assessment, selection, and follow-on training courses, organizations collect standardized psychological, academic, and performance data on each individual. This thesis proposes a “Talent Profile” that aggregates the assessment and training data into a succinct two-page report. This will aid in optimal billet assignment, mentorship, and personal professional development. This research does not establish any causative or predictive relationships between individual traits and success in specific SOF jobs or promotion potential. The Talent Profile relies on the psychological motivational concept of self-determination theory that seeks to address the innate human needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The Talent Profile consists of five main components: behavioral, interpersonal relationships, physical fitness, cognitive ability, and personal biographical information. The Talent Profile should travel with recent graduates to their gaining commander, and ultimately be used for periodic key billet selection boards to better adopt a “culture of assessments.”Major, United States Marine CorpsMajor, United States ArmyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Monolith formation and ring-stain suppression in low-pressure evaporation of poly(ethylene oxide) droplets

When droplets of dilute suspensions are left to evaporate the final dry residue is typically the familiar coffee-ring stain, with nearly all material deposited at the initial triple line (Deegan et al, Nature, vol. 389, 1997, pp. 827-829). However, aqueous poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) droplets only form coffee-ring stains for a very narrow range of the experimental parameters molecular weight, concentration and drying rate. Instead, over a wide range of values they form either a flat disk or a very distinctive tall central monolith via a four-stage deposition process which includes a remarkable bootstrap-building step. To predict which deposit will form, we present a quantitative model comparing the effects of advective build-up at the triple line to diffusive flux and use this to calculate a dimensionless number χ. By experimentally varying concentration and flux (using a low-pressure drying chamber), the prediction is tested over nearly two orders of magnitude in both variables and shown to be in good agreement with the boundary between disks and monoliths at χ ≈ 1.6

Physics Of Eclipsing Binaries. II. Towards the Increased Model Fidelity

The precision of photometric and spectroscopic observations has been systematically improved in the last decade, mostly thanks to space-borne photometric missions and ground-based spectrographs dedicated to finding exoplanets. The field of eclipsing binary stars strongly benefited from this development. Eclipsing binaries serve as critical tools for determining fundamental stellar properties (masses, radii, temperatures and luminosities), yet the models are not capable of reproducing observed data well either because of the missing physics or because of insufficient precision. This led to a predicament where radiative and dynamical effects, insofar buried in noise, started showing up routinely in the data, but were not accounted for in the models. PHOEBE (PHysics Of Eclipsing BinariEs; http://phoebe-project.org) is an open source modeling code for computing theoretical light and radial velocity curves that addresses both problems by incorporating missing physics and by increasing the computational fidelity. In particular, we discuss triangulation as a superior surface discretization algorithm, meshing of rotating single stars, light time travel effect, advanced phase computation, volume conservation in eccentric orbits, and improved computation of local intensity across the stellar surfaces that includes photon-weighted mode, enhanced limb darkening treatment, better reflection treatment and Doppler boosting. Here we present the concepts on which PHOEBE is built on and proofs of concept that demonstrate the increased model fidelity.Comment: 60 pages, 15 figures, published in ApJS; accompanied by the release of PHOEBE 2.0 on http://phoebe-project.or

Emotional Expression: Novel Measures and Relation to Emotion Recognition in Schizotypy

poster abstractThis study investigated emotional expression and emotion recognition in a psychometric schizotypy sample of individuals with subclinical traits which are related to psychotic disorders. Both emotional expression and emotion recognition have been observed to be diminished in schizotypy, although there is conflicting evidence when considering of multiple studies. Using a novel measure of emotional expression that relies upon observation informed by objective criteria as well as utilizing facial recognition software, the study proposes three main hypotheses: 1) Emotion recognition skill will be poorer and the frequency and average magnitude of emotional expression will be lower in the schizotypy group compared to the non-schizotypy group; 2) Facial recognition software will demonstrate high convergent validity with the observational measure; 3) Emotion recognition skill will be positively correlated with levels of emotional expression, as measured by observer ratings and software, in both schizotypy and nonschizotypy groups. For each of these hypotheses, there is no expected variation with regards to any specific basic emotion (happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger, or disgust), and tests will determine if this prediction is supported. Participants with schizotypy (n = 17) and without (n =14) completed an emotion recognition measure and a semi-structured interview which was video recorded. This video was processed through both measures. Data analysis is still in process, with preliminary results showing small differences between groups in emotional expression for negative affect only

‘Hot’ vs. ‘cold’ behavioural‐cognitive styles: motivational‐dopaminergic vs. cognitive‐cholinergic processing of a Pavlovian cocaine cue in sign‐ and goal‐tracking rats

Discrete Pavlovian reward cues acquire more potent incentive motivational properties (incentive salience) in some animals (sign‐trackers; STs) compared to others (goal‐trackers; GTs). Conversely, GTs appear to be better than STs in processing more complex contextual cues, perhaps reflecting their relatively greater bias for goal‐directed cue processing. Here, we investigated the activity of two major prefrontal neuromodulatory input systems, dopamine (DA) and acetylcholine (ACh), in response to a discrete Pavlovian cue that was previously paired with cocaine administration in STs and GTs. Rats underwent Pavlovian training in which light cue presentations were either paired or unpaired with an intravenous cocaine infusion. Following a 10‐day abstinence period, prefrontal dialysates were collected in STs and GTs during cue presentations in the absence of cocaine. In STs, the cue previously paired with cocaine significantly increased prefrontal DA levels. DA levels remained elevated over baseline across multiple cue presentation blocks, and DA levels and approaches to the cue were significantly correlated. In STs, ACh levels were unaffected by cue presentations. In contrast, in GTs, presentations of the cocaine cue increased prefrontal ACh, but not DA, levels. GTs oriented towards the cue at rates similar to STs, but they did not approach it and elevated ACh levels did not correlate with conditioned orientation. The results indicate a double dissociation between the role of prefrontal DA and ACh in STs and GTs, and suggest that these phenotypes will be useful for studying the role of neuromodulator systems in mediating opponent behavioural‐cognitive styles.We investigated the activity of two major prefrontal neuromodulatory input systems, dopamine (DA) and acetylcholine (ACh), in response to a Pavlovian cue that was previously paired with cocaine administration in STs and GTs. Following an abstinence period and in the absence of cocaine, cue presentations (C1–C4) in STs resulted in increases in extracellular DA, but not ACh, levels (left). In contrast, cue presentations in GTs increased ACh, but not DA, levels (NC, no‐cue).Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141035/1/ejn13741_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141035/2/ejn13741-sup-0001-reviewer_comments.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141035/3/ejn13741.pd

Alcohol Affects the P3 Component of an Adaptive Stop Signal Task ERP

BACKGROUND The P3 component of the event-related potential (ERP) has been particularly useful in alcohol research for identifying endophenotypes of alcohol use disorder (AUD) risk in sober subjects. However, practice and/or fatigue reduces P3 amplitude, limiting the ability to ascertain acute and adaptive effects of alcohol exposure. Here, we report acute alcohol effects on P3 amplitude and latency using an adaptive stop signal task (aSST). METHODS One hundred and forty eight nondependent moderate to heavy social drinkers, age 21 to 27, participated in 2 single-blind, alcohol or placebo, counterbalanced sessions approximately one week apart. During each session, subjects performed an adaptive stop signal task (aSST) at (1) baseline, (2) upon reaching the target 60 mg/dL breath alcohol concentration or at the equivalent time during the placebo session, and (3) approximately 135 minutes later while the breath alcohol concentration was clamped. Here, we report on differences between baseline and first subsequent measurements across the experimental sessions. During each aSST run, the stop signal delay (SSD, the time between stop and go signals) adjusted trial-by-trial based on the subject’s performance. RESULTS The aSST reliably generated a STOP P3 component that did not change significantly with repeated task performance. The pre-infusion SSD distribution was bimodal, with mean values several hundred msec apart (FAST: 153 msec and SLOW: 390 msec). This suggested different response strategies: FAST SSD favoring “going” over “stopping,” and SLOW SSD favoring “stopping” over “going”. Exposure to alcohol at 60 mg/dL differentially affected the amplitude and latency of the STOP P3 according to SSD group. Alcohol significantly reduced P3 amplitude in the SLOW SSD compared to FAST SSD group, but significantly increased P3 latency in the FAST SSD compared to SLOW SSD group. CONCLUSIONS The aSST is a robust and sensitive task for detecting alcohol induced changes in inhibition behavior as measured by the P3 component in a within subject design. Alcohol was associated with P3 component changes which varied by SSD group, suggesting a differential effect as a function of task strategy. Overall, the data support the potential utility of the aSST in the detection of alcohol response related AUD risk