Did intelligence matter in the Cold War?

For forty years the superpower conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union dominated the world stage. In popular culture the conflict produced a plethora of “spy” books and films about the daring exploits of intelligence agents. In contrast, the scholarly investigation of the role of intelligence in the Cold War had to await the gradual opening, since 1990, of “Top Secret” archives. It is now time to make a first attempt at assessing the role that intelligence played in the overall development of the conflict. Did intelligence help to avoid the Cold War becoming “hot”? We have invited three prominent intelligence scholars to give their views

The STEM Faculty Experience at West Point

At conferences or meetings, West Point faculty are often asked, “What’s it like to teach at West Point?” Previously, we reported on this question within the context of the cadet’s West Point experience and how STEM courses and opportunities are integrated. Now we turn our focus to the West Point faculty and their unique position of both educating cadets in a traditional sense and helping with the cadets’ character development. In this article, we discuss who the West Point faculty are; what is expected of each faculty member; and how faculty members within chemistry, physics, mechanical engineering, and civil engineering educate and develop future leaders of character for the U.S. Army

Design for success: Identifying a process for transitioning to an intensive online course delivery model in health professions education.

Intensive courses (ICs), or accelerated courses, are gaining popularity in medical and health professions education, particularly as programs adopt e-learning models to negotiate challenges of flexibility, space, cost, and time. In 2014, the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership (CRL) at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences began the process of transitioning two online 15-week graduate programs to an IC model. Within a year, a third program also transitioned to this model. A literature review yielded little guidance on the process of transitioning from 15-week, traditional models of delivery to IC models, particularly in online learning environments. Correspondingly, this paper describes the process by which CRL transitioned three online graduate programs to an IC model and details best practices for course design and facilitation resulting from our iterative redesign process. Finally, we present lessons-learned for the benefit of other medical and health professions\u27 programs contemplating similar transitions. ABBREVIATIONS: CRL: Department of Clinical Research and Leadership; HSCI: Health Sciences; IC: Intensive course; PD: Program director; QM: Quality Matters

Attenuated Expression of DFFB is a Hallmark of Oligodendrogliomas with 1p-Allelic Loss

Allelic loss of chromosome 1p is frequently observed in oligodendroglioma. We screened 177 oligodendroglial tumors for 1p deletions and found 6 tumors with localized 1p36 deletions. Several apoptosis regulation genes have been mapped to this region, including Tumor Protein 73 (p73), DNA Fragmentation Factor subunits alpha (DFFA) and beta (DFFB), and Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily Members 9 and 25 (TNFRSF9, TNFRSF25). We compared expression levels of these 5 genes in pairs of 1p-loss and 1p-intact tumors using quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR (QRTPCR) to test if 1p deletions had an effect on expression. Only the DFFB gene demonstrated decreased expression in all tumor pairs tested. Mutational analysis did not reveal DFFB mutations in 12 tested samples. However, it is possible that DFFB haploinsufficiency from 1p allelic loss is a contributing factor in oligodendroglioma development

High intensity aerobic exercise training improves deficits of cardiovascular autonomic function in a rat model of type 1 diabetes mellitus with moderate hyperglycemia

© 2016 Kenneth N. Grisé et al. Indices of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) in experimental models of Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) are often contrary to clinical data. Here, we investigated whether a relatable insulin-treated model of T1DM would induce deficits in cardiovascular (CV) autonomic function more reflective of clinical results and if exercise training could prevent those deficits. Sixty-four rats were divided into four groups: sedentary control (C), sedentary T1DM (D), control exercise (CX), or T1DM exercise (DX). Diabetes was induced via multiple low-dose injections of streptozotocin and blood glucose was maintained at moderate hyperglycemia (9-17 mM) through insulin supplementation. Exercise training consisted of daily treadmill running for 10 weeks. Compared to C, D had blunted baroreflex sensitivity, increased vascular sympathetic tone, increased serum neuropeptide Y (NPY), and decreased intrinsic heart rate. In contrast, DX differed from D in all measures of CAN (except NPY), including heart rate variability. These findings demonstrate that this T1DM model elicits deficits and exercise-mediated improvements to CV autonomic function which are reflective of clinical T1DM

Low-Intrusion Techniques and Sensitive Information Management for Warhead Counting and Verification: FY2012 Annual Report

Progress in the second year of this project is described by the series of technical reports and manuscripts that make up the content of this report. These documents summarize successes in our goals to develop our robust image-hash templating and material-discrimination techniques and apply them to test image data

In situ probe of photocarrier dynamics in water-splitting hematite (α-Fe_(2)O_3) electrodes

The spectra and dynamics of photogenerated electrons and holes in excited hematite (α-Fe_(2)O_3) electrodes are investigated by transient absorption (from visible to infrared and from femto- to micro-seconds), bias-dependent differential absorption and Stark spectroscopy. Comparison of results from these techniques enables the assignment of the spectral signatures of photogenerated electrons and holes. Under the pulse illumination conditions of transient absorption (TA) measurement, the absorbed photon to electron conversion efficiency (APCE) of the films at 1.43 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, RHE) is 0.69%, significantly lower than that at AM 1.5. TA kinetics shows that under these conditions, >98% of the photogenerated electrons and holes have recombined by 6 μs. Although APCE increases with more positive bias (from 0.90 to 1.43 V vs. RHE), the kinetics of holes up to 6 μs show negligible change, suggesting that the catalytic activity of the films is determined by holes with longer lifetimes