Trisections of 4-manifolds with Boundary

Given a handle decomposition of a 4-manifold with boundary, and an open book decomposition of the boundary, we show how to produce a trisection diagram of a trisection of the 4-manifold inducing the given open book. We do this by making the original proof of the existence of relative trisections more explicit, in terms of handles. Furthermore, we extend this existence result to the case of 4-manifolds with multiple boundary components, and show how trisected 4-manifolds with multiple boundary components glue together.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure

Contracting without Paper

This paper examines the contract simplification effort currently undergoing review and modification in the Department of the Army. This effort has led the author to explore the state of the art of contracting and what changes will have to be made to methods of contracting to keep pace with the commercial marketplace in the next decade. The computer is becoming as common as the telephone in every office. The use of the computer seems to be unlimited, ranging from games to sending and receiving electronic mail and transfer of large sums of money to and between bank accounts. This paper provides what the author perceives is the step-by-step advancement needed by the Government in the use of computers to transition from formal paper contracts transported by mail to the paperless contracting transported by telephone lines or satellite to contractors and between contractors and Government agencies. This paper explains the author\u27s concept of the various elements of paperless contract evolution which must be achieved to allow the release of solicitations via computers, contractor submission of bids via computers, and the eventual award of contracts by the same means

Let\u27s Make It Simple

The President\u27s Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management Report identified several problems areas which need to be addressed both by Congress and the Department of Defense (DoD) procurement policy people. In the report of the commission it was indicated that recent procurement horror stories had caused certain corrective actions to be prescribed. The prescription was written by Congress and ended up as laws. These were translated into regulations not only designed to implement the laws but to correct the procurement procedures for the acquisition of spare parts. These changes as designed were to preclude additional horror stories from materializing and becoming headlined in the Washington Post or by some other news media. One of the most significant elements to procurement professionals that has been uncovered by the Blue Ribbon Commission and highlighted in their report is the fact that the Congressional laws and the DoD regulations have tended to exacerbate the underlying problems of the acquisition process by making the acquisition process even more inflexible. These laws and regulations have effectively disincentized contracting officer in the performance of their duties and have thereby eliminated any motivation that may have existed for contracting officers to make judgement decisions based upon experience and business acumen. To quote from the commissions report, This Chapter will concentrate on ways of improving the efficiency of the overall acquisition system. Removing bureaucratic inefficiencies in our acquisition of major weapon systems also will realize significant improvements in our procurement of associated spare parts. DoD has followed the concept outlined by the President\u27s Blue Ribbon Commission to change the regulations in order to permit contracting officers to actually use their decision-making authority to acquire materiel needed by the services. In fact, the commission\u27s report echoes what has been stated by procurement professionals in recent years that there is a definite need to return the decision making authority to the contracting officer and hold him accountable for his actions. DoD therefore created procedures for this effort which has been named Pilot Contracting Activities Program (PCAP)

Two New Contract Types for Operation of Government-Owned Facilities

With the ongoing emphasis or thrust, if you will, within the Government being placed on contracting out, under 0MB Circular A-7b, the types of contractual instruments employed become more of a focus for our attention than ever before. Consequently, the contracting structure used by the Government in the management of Government-owned, Contractor-operated facilities (GOCO) needs to be re-examined in this light. Objectives to be considered are lowering costs, increasing flexibility, and maintaining ease of transition between the various phases of the contracting process. New contract types must be designed and utilized to meet changing conditions and requirements. Federal Acquisition Regulations need to be revised to accommodate new contracting techniques. The use of the Cost Plus Award Fee contracts with subjective evaluation at GOCO-type facilities needs to be reviewed. The use of Fixed Price contracts will be discussed, and the pros and cons of their use in this environment will be discussed by the author in depth. Two new contract types which the author has devised will then be presented. Future contract types will evolve as needs arise. The first contract type proposed is the Cost Plus Award Fee (Objective) contract. This contract provides for development of objective criteria that are definitive and not subjective in nature. The second type of contract is the Fixed Price Award Incentive contract which lends itself well for application as a management contract in GOCO operations. This contract type provides wider latitude in the management of the operations of a COCO or maintenance-type operation when the volume and type of work cannot be definitively specified during the initial phases of the process. This type of contract precludes the Government from active involvement in many adjustments to the cost/profit/fee base during a contract performance period

Innovative Use ot Incentive Contracts

Fixed price contracts have been proclaimed as the most appropriate type of contracts for the Government to negotiate to the detriment of any consideration of the incentive type contracts. This tendency is especially true for the production contracts where clear, firm specifications are available to enable the contractor to perform the required work. In many cases, however, the use of incentive contracts might prove a valuable tool for contracting officers. This paper will explore the use of fixed price incentive and cost plus incentive fee contracts where negotiations have become deadlocked due to substantial differences in negotiation positions between the parties involved. In these situations, there is a natural tendency to split the difference which can result in a final settlement in which the contracting officer is left feeling uncomfortable. Several options open to both parties accompanied with graphical representations will also be presented. These options afford incentives in the form of rewards and penalties that both the Government and the contractor can accept. Also provided are practical solutions and methods for resolving the negotiation impasse, thereby enhancing a settlement to a fixed price incentive contract or an alternative-incentive contract. A case study of an actual program will be used to demonstrate the methods proposed to achieve acceptable compromises during negotiations. The case study covers an Engineering Development Program in a mature phase of development. This study includes the use of variable share lines in the same contract and offers an innovative method whereby agreements can be reached in even the most difficult negotiations during any phase of the product life cycle

Exploring the Interactive, Linguistic, and Conceptual Dimensions of Parent Input and Their Role in Children\u27s Pragmatic Development

The development of children’s pragmatic language, which can be defined as conversational competence in social contexts, has been attributed to variation in the language they hear in their environment. When studying the impact language input has on pragmatic development, it is important for clinicians and linguists to measure both the quantity and quality of this language input. Measures of quality, however, are much more relevant when studying the development of pragmatic language, as discussed in Zhang (2020) and Hirsh-Pasek et al. (2015). Rowe and Snow (2016) discussed three dimensions of language quality: interactive, linguistic and conceptual. There is a current gap in the literature of analyzing these language dimensions in relation to child pragmatic language use, and the current study seeks to determine which language dimension appears most frequently in parental speech, as well as which dimension or dimensions exert the most influence on child pragmatic language use. We analyzed 12 parent-child dyads, with a range of language abilities, focusing on the interactive and conceptual language dimensions. The findings of the current study have found the interactive dimension to be the more prevalent language dimension between the two dimensions in parental speech. Additionally, we found that, at school entry, parental interactive language, especially utterances that are well-timed, are associated with child pragmatic language use. Thus, parents and clinicians alike should focus on utterances that are well-timed compared to their children’s previous utterances to aid in use of pragmatic language

Improving Software Cost Estimating Techniques in Defense Programs

Symposium PresentationApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Improving Software Cost Estimating Techniques in Defense Programs

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumAs software becomes more ubiquitous in defense programs, there is a need to improve the accuracy and reliability of methods for estimating software size and cost. Historically, practitioners have used defined distributions in their estimating software to simulate likely outcomes. This research identifies new distributions of likely software costs and effective sizes through an analysis of Cost and Software Data Reports (CSDRs) as well as demonstrating the most appropriate distribution given certain program characteristics known at the genesis of the project. By utilizing various descriptive statistics and statistical tests, this research shows there are distributions that are more closely tailored to the actual qualities of a software program. In some instances, a broad and general distribution is sufficient; however, there are specific commodities, contractors, and system types that are distinctly different and require additional analysis. Overall, this research intends to equip practitioners with an arsenal of distributions and statistical information that will lead them to apply the best model to predict software size and cost, all with the goal of improving overall accuracy.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Improving Software Cost Estimating Techniques in Defense Programs

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumAs software becomes more ubiquitous in defense programs, there is a need to improve the accuracy and reliability of methods for estimating software size and cost. Historically, practitioners have used defined distributions in their estimating software to simulate likely outcomes. This research identifies new distributions of likely software costs and effective sizes through an analysis of Cost and Software Data Reports (CSDRs) as well as demonstrating the most appropriate distribution given certain program characteristics known at the genesis of the project. By utilizing various descriptive statistics and statistical tests, this research shows there are distributions that are more closely tailored to the actual qualities of a software program. In some instances, a broad and general distribution is sufficient; however, there are specific commodities, contractors, and system types that are distinctly different and require additional analysis. Overall, this research intends to equip practitioners with an arsenal of distributions and statistical information that will lead them to apply the best model to predict software size and cost, all with the goal of improving overall accuracy.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Development of an equivalent force method and an application in simulating the radiated noise from an operating diesel engine

In this paper a new methodology is presented for applying measured accelerations and forces as excitation on a structural finite element model in order to perform a forced frequency response analysis. The computed vibration constitutes the excitation for an acoustic boundary element analysis. The new developments presented in this paper are associated with: the equivalent force method that can prescribe the acceleration at certain parts of the structure; the integration within a single process of test data that define the excitation, with the vibration analysis, and the acoustic prediction; the utilization of the new technology in simulating the noise radiated from a running engine and determining the effects of design changes. Numerical results for noise radiated from a running engine are compared to test data for a baseline design. The effect of two structural design modifications on the radiated noise is computed, and conclusions are deduced