Identification of Transnational Threats

In the past, the starting point for threat identification was the nation state. Today, national boundaries have lost much of their significance and global forces lacking identifiable national frontiers represent a real threat to US security. New technologies have facilitated the development of advanced terrorist methodologies and tactics. A new and increasingly significant threat is hostile forces which operate within the borders of states which are friendly to the United States. American universities are increasingly vulnerable to new transnational threats by virtue of the opportunities they present for acquisition of dual use technological skills. With its new cellular structure, terrorism has been privatized, is more difficult to counter, and enjoys great access to funds, weapons, and training. The broad anti-war coalition has created threats to the US critical infrastructure in connection with “direct action” against the Iraqi war. In one year alone, computer criminals funneled over 2.6 billion dollars out of Russia through Cyprus. Traffic in false documents constitutes an especially significant threat to our critical infrastructure and has become more serious with technological advances that have eased the production of such documents. The rise of identity theft, an important variation of traffic in false documents, threatens to undermine an important infrastructure base

Balance-Related Outcome Measures of Acquired Brain Injury Patients in a Student-Led Onsite Physical Therapy Clinic: A Retrospective Records Review

Title: Balance-Related Outcome Measures of Acquired Brain Injury Patients in a Student-Led Onsite Physical Therapy Clinic: A Retrospective Records Review Authors: Parke Humphrey, SPT; Corey Kaleshnik, SPT; Lauren Wilson, SPT; Ann Wilson, PT, MEd, GCS Affiliation(s): 1. Physical Therapy Program, University of Puget Sound Purpose: Individuals with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) often have balance impairments. Interventions targeting these impairments may improve balance and thus increase overall societal participation. The purpose of this review was to identify the types of balance-related outcome measures used to assess balance impairments in patients with ABI in a student-led onsite physical therapy clinic. Subjects: 13 individuals with an ABI receiving care at a student-run clinic. Materials & Methods: 23 records were selected for this review; however, only 13 of these met inclusion criteria. 12 subjects had a primary diagnosis of CVA and 1 subject had a primary diagnosis of TBI. The average number of balance measures per subject was 2.25 with all subjects having at least one measure taken. The mean age of the subjects was 59.8 years with a range of 35 to 85 years. The mean amount of time since ABI onset to the episode of care was 5.2 years with a range of 8 months to 21 years and a standard deviation of 4.8 years. The mean number of visits for our subjects in each episode of care was 12.4 with a range of 4 to 19 visits and a standard deviation of 4.9. The named balance measures we evaluated were the Berg Balance Scale, Dynamic Gait Index, Timed Up and Go, and the Mini-BESTest. Additionally there were subjects that were evaluated based on general static and dynamic balance. Results: The most commonly used recognized outcome measures were the Berg Balance Scale (N=8), Dynamic Gait Index (N=3), Timed up and Go (N=2) and the Mini-BESTest (N=2). In addition 8 records identified that either static or dynamic balance or both were assessed using other methods (N=8). Of the 13 subjects, 9 improved by a score greater than or equal to the MDC or MCID. Conclusions: Although the majority of student therapists are using validated measures to assess balance, a number are assessing balance in other ways that make it difficult to determine which components of balance are being assessed or how successful the targeted interventions were. Despite this, meaningful change was seen in 69.2% (N=9) of subjects that were evaluated with recognized outcome measures. Clinical Relevance: Meaningful change can be seen in patients with ABI who may be several years out from their original injury in relatively short episodes of care or with infrequent visits. While general balance measures might be appropriate to help inform a therapist’s decision-making process to work on specific deficits, this review highlights the importance of also including a named outcome measure to detect significant changes across many case studies. References 1. What is the Difference Between an Acquired Brain Injury and a Traumatic Brain Injury. Brain Injury Association of America website. http://www.biausa.org/FAQRetrieve.aspx?ID=43913. Updated 2014. Accessed 8 November 2014. 2. Caeyenberghs K, Leemans A, Geurts M, Taymans T, Vander Linden C, Smits-Engelsman BC, Sunaert S, Swinnen SP. Brain-behavior relationships in young traumatic brain injury patients: fractional anisotropy measures are highly correlated with dynamic visuomotor tracking performance. Neuropsychologia 2010 Apr;48(5):1472-82. Doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.01.017. 3. Hoffer ME, Balough BJ, Gottshall KR. Posttraumatic balance disorders. Int Tinnitus J. 2007;13(1):69-72. 4. Perry SB, Woollard J, Little S, Shroyer K. Relationships among measures of balance, gait, and community integration in people with brain injury. J Head Trauma Rehabil 2014;29(2):117-124. doi:10.1097/HTR.0b013e3182864f2f. 5. Sartor-Glittenberg C, Brickner L. A multidimensional physical therapy program for individuals with cerebellar ataxia secondary to traumatic brain injury: a case series. Physiother Theory Pract 2014;30(2):138-148. doi:10.3109/09593985.2013.819952

Multiloop String-Like Formulas for QED

Multiloop gauge-theory amplitudes written in the Feynman-parameter representation are poised to take advantage of two important developments of the last decade: the spinor-helicity technique and the superstring reorganization. The former has been considered in a previous article; the latter will be elaborated in this paper. We show here how to write multiloop string-like formulas in the Feynman-parameter representation for any process in QED, including those involving other non-electromagnetic interactions. The general connection between the Feynman-parameter approach and the superstring/first-quantized approach is discussed. In the special case of a one-loop multi-photon amplitude, these formulas reduce to the ones obtained by the superstring and the first quantized methods. The string-like formulas exhibits a simple gauge structure which makes the Ward-Takahashi identity apparent, and enables the integration-by-parts technique of Bern and Kosower to be applied, so that gauge-invariant parts can be extracted diagram-by-diagram with the seagull vertex neglected.Comment: 25 pages in Plain Tex, plus four figures in a postscript file; McGill/92-5

QCD Corrections to Spin Correlations in Top Quark Production at Lepton Colliders

Spin correlations, using a generic spin basis, are investigated to leading order in QCD for top quark production at lepton colliders. Even though, these radiative corrections induce an anomalous gamma/Z magnetic moment for the top quarks and allow for single, real gluon emission, their effects on the top quark spin orientation are very small. The final results are that the top (or anti-top) quarks are produced in an essentially unique spin configuration in polarized lepton collisions even after including the O(alpha_{s}) QCD corrections.Comment: 32 pages, REVTeX, 13 Postscript figures, psfig.sty and here.sty are required. Several references added, Tables 3, 4 and 5 are change

Exporting Vector Muscles for Facial Animation

In this paper we introduce a method of exporting vector muscles from one 3D face to another for facial animation. Starting from a 3D face with an extended version of Waters' linear muscle system, we transfer the linear muscles to a target 3D face. We also transfer the region division, which is used to increase the performance of the muscle as well as to control the animation. The human involvement is just as simple as selecting the faces which shows the most natural facial expressions in the animator's view. The method allows the transfer of the animation to a new 3D model within a short time. The transferred muscles can then be used to create new animations

Winter Survival and Habitat Selection by Translocated Northern Bobwhite in the New Jersey Pine Barrens: Preliminary Results

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) populations have been experiencing precipitous range-wide declines for more than 50 years; some of the steepest declines occurring in the Mid-Atlantic states. These declines are largely attributed to habitat deterioration from urban sprawl, change in forest management, and intensive farming. This ongoing study aims to evaluate the efficacy of translocating wild bobwhites into the New Jersey Pine Barrens as a means to restore their historic populations. Translocation has proven relatively successful in augmenting bobwhite populations in other regions as well as restoring populations of gallinaceous species. This portion of the study aims to investigate what bobwhites require during winter months (October—March) in the Mid-Atlantic to survive until summer for reproduction. The study site, Pine Island Cranberry Company, is the largest privately owned tract of land (6,800 hectares) in New Jersey, with habitat comprised of pitch pine (Pinus rigida), shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata), scrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia), and early successional forbs and grasses. For three consecutive years (2015—2017) prior to breeding season, we will translocate 80 radio-collared bobwhites (40 male, 40 female) to Pine Island from wild populations in southwest Georgia. These bobwhites are radio-located 3—5 times per week throughout the year while this portion of the study focuses on the winter months. We are collecting microhabitat measurements (e.g., basal density, groundcover, understory, and canopy closure) from 30 random telemetry location points, per covey, per habitat type to characterize winter habitat use. Survival is estimated using staggered-entry Kaplan-Meier analyses and a Cox proportional hazard model in R to determine covariates of daily mortality. We are reporting on the first 2 years of results

Summer Survival of Translocated Northern Bobwhite in the New Jersey Pine Barrens: Preliminary Results

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) have declined precipitously since the 1960s, largely due to habitat deterioration and changes in land use; some of the highest declines have been observed in the Mid-Atlantic States. In other regions, attempts to augment bobwhite populations have been relatively successful using translocation. As part of a long-term restocking program, focal areas for translocation in the mid-Atlantic region were identified by biologists at a National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI) workshop. The objective of this project is to evaluate translocation to restore bobwhite populations in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a focal area designated with a high ranking for potential bobwhite recovery. The study site, Pine Island Cranberry Co., is the largest privately owned land tract (\u3e6,000 hectares) in New Jersey, with a mix of shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata), pitch pine (P. rigida), scrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia), and early successional forbes and grasses. For three consecutive years (2015—2017) prior to breeding season, we are translocating eighty radio-collared bobwhite (40 male, 40 female) from wild populations in southwest Georgia. These individuals are radio-located 3-5 times per week, year round. We are collecting microhabitat measurements (e.g., groundcover, understory, and canopy closure) and monitoring nests to characterize habitat use, nest site selection, and nest fate. Survival is estimated using staggered-entry Kaplan-Meier analyses and a Cox proportional hazard model in R to determine covariates of daily mortality. Six of 14 nests were successful in summer 2015 (66 known hatches), and 0 of 12 nests were successful in summer 2016. Snake depredation was the cause of 41.7% of failed nests in 2016. Preliminary analyses produce a five-month adult survival rate of 0.455 (SE = 0.138) for summer 2015 and 0.270 (SE = 0.0516) for 2016. Our planned third summer (2017) of data collection will increase our understanding of these disparate survival estimates

Identifying risk and mitigating gambling-related harm in online poker

The present paper conducts a critical analysis of the potential for gambling-related harm in relation to online poker participation, and a theoretical evaluation of current responsible gambling strategies employed to mitigate harm in online gambling and applies the evaluation of these strategies specifically to online poker gambling. Theoretically, the primary risk for harm in online poker is the rapid and continuous nature of poker provisions online, and has been demonstrated to be associated with disordered gambling behaviour, including the chasing of monetary losses. The following responsible gambling features were deemed relevant for consideration: informed player choice, voluntary self-exclusion, employee intervention, pre-commitment, in-game feedback, behavioural tracking tools, and age restriction and verification. Although current responsible gambling features are evaluated as theoretically robust, there remains a fundamental need for experimental validation of their effectiveness. Furthermore, despite online poker gamblers perceiving the responsible gambling features as valuable tools, in reality very few players regularly use available responsible gambling features. Ultimately, for the online poker gambling industry to retain market credibility and avoid substantial top-down regulation, it is imperative to demonstrate effectiveness of responsible gambling approaches, and increase customer utilisation of available harm-mitigation features

Weak Transitions in A=6 and 7 Nuclei

The $^6$He beta decay and $^7$Be electron capture processes are studied using variational Monte Carlo wave functions, derived from a realistic Hamiltonian consisting of the Argonne $v_{18}$ two-nucleon and Urbana-IX three-nucleon interactions. The model for the nuclear weak axial current includes one- and two-body operators with the strength of the leading two-body term--associated with $\Delta$-isobar excitation of the nucleon--adjusted to reproduce the Gamow-Teller matrix element in tritium $\beta$-decay. The measured half-life of $^6$. He is under-predicted by theory by $\simeq$ 8%, while that of $^7$Be for decay into the ground and first excited states of $^7$Li is over-predicted by $\simeq$ 9%. However, the experimentally known branching ratio for these latter processes is in good agreement with the calculated value. Two-body axial current contributions lead to a $\simeq$ 1.7% (4.4%) increase in the value of the Gamow-Teller matrix element of $^6$He ($^7$Be), obtained with one-body currents only, and slightly worsen (appreciably improve) the agreement between the calculated and measured half-life. Corrections due to retardation effects associated with the finite lepton momentum transfers involved in the decays, as well as contributions of suppressed transitions induced by the weak vector charge and axial current operators, have also been calculated and found to be negligible.Comment: 23 pages 8 tables. submitted to Phys. Rev.

Phenomenology of Neutrino Oscillations

The phenomenology of solar, atmospheric, supernova and laboratory neutrino oscillations is described. Analytical formulae for matter effects are reviewed. The results from oscillations are confronted with neutrinoless double beta decay.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, latex, Plenary talk given at Workshop in High Energy Particle Physics-6, Chennai, Indi