Sail intelligent terminal evaluation

Engineering assessments, recommendations, and equipment necessary to solve the operational problems are described, and operational flexibility of the intelligent terminal facility are extended. The following capabilities were considered: (1) the operation of at least two D/D stations and one remote graphics terminal simultaneously; (2) the capability to run plotter, AIDS and FORTRAN programs simultaneously; (3) simultaneous use of system utility routines of D/D stations and remote graphics terminal; (4) the capability to provide large volume hardcopy of data and graphics; and (5) the capability to eliminate or at least ease the current operation/programming problems with related labor costs. The overall intelligent terminal development, and plans guiding the analysis and equipment acquisitions were studied, and the assessments and analyses performed are also summarized

Current Status of the Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) in Arkansas

The secretive Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) is believed to be much more widespread during fall and winter than previously thought. Of the few places in the southern United States conducting research on this species, all have been successful at capturing birds. A total of 12 historic records existed for Arkansas until our work began in fall of 2014. The first confirmed record was in 1959 and the most recent, prior to this research, was in 2010. Over the course of two field seasons, we captured and banded 24 Northern Saw-whet Owls in rural Madison County. All birds were mist-netted along a trail, in woodland composed of pine and cedar with fairly dense undergrowth. Two were captured during our 2014 season after a late start and 22 were captured in 2015, likely the result of an earlier start. Comparing our data to that of several other banding operations in the south, it would appear that the peak of migration in Arkansas is late October through early November, with capture rates dropping by early December. Of the birds captured, all but one was female, the most common sex this far south. A variety of age classes were identified, with a fairly even distribution of hatch-year, second-year, and after-second-year birds. Exactly from where the saw-whets are migrating is unknown, although several foreign recoveries in Missouri and four recoveries in Arkansas suggest they are coming from the western Great Lakes region. Once considered a vagrant, based on this research, the saw-whet appears to be a fall migrant to the state of Arkansas

MOSS, an evaluation of software engineering techniques

An evaluation of the software engineering techniques used for the development of a Modular Operating System (MOSS) was described. MOSS is a general purpose real time operating system which was developed for the Concept Verification Test (CVT) program. Each of the software engineering techniques was described and evaluated based on the experience of the MOSS project. Recommendations for the use of these techniques on future software projects were also given

History and Current Status of the Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) in Arkansas

The secretive Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) is believed to be much more widespread during fall and winter than previously thought. Of the few places in the southern United States conducting research on this species, all have been successful at capturing birds. A total of 12 historic records existed for Arkansas until my work began in fall of 2014. The first confirmed record was in 1959 and the most recent was in 2010. Over the course of two field seasons, I captured and banded 24 saw-whet owls in rural Madison County. All birds were mist-netted along a trail, in woodland composed of pine and cedar with fairly dense undergrowth. Two were captured during our 2014 season after a late start and 22 were captured in 2015, likely the result of an earlier start. Comparing my data to that of several other banding operations in the south, it would appear that the peak of migration in Arkansas is late October through early November, with capture rates dropping by early December. Of the birds captured, all but one was female, the most common sex this far south. A variety of age classes were identified, with a fairly even distribution of hatch-year, second-year, and after-second-year birds. Exactly from where the saw-whets are migrating is unknown, although several foreign recoveries in Missouri and four recoveries in Arkansas suggest they are coming from the western Great Lakes region. Once considered a vagrant, based on my research, the saw-whet appears to be a fall migrant to the state of Arkansas

The Relationship between Stress, Cortisol Reactivity and Memory Performance in Younger and Older Adults

The purpose of this study was to examine age differences in cortisol reactivity and memory performance in younger and older adults exposed to cognitive stressors. The current study utilized data from the Anxiety, Memory, and Control study (ACME) conducted at Brandeis University. Stress was measured using a subjective assessment of anxiety and cortisol was measured using a saliva sample. Memory performance was measured using both declarative and working memory tasks. The final sample consisted of 28 younger adults (M = 19.8 years, SD = 1.5) and 29 older adults (M = 71.2 years, SD = 6.6). There were significant age differences in cortisol reactivity with older adults showing increases in cortisol and younger adults showing decreases. Cortisol reactivity was not significantly related to memory performance for either age group. Cortisol reactivity did not differentially affect declarative or working memory. The results suggest age and task anxiety are significantly related to memory performance but cortisol reactivity is not

Fall Migration and Winter Habitat Use of Northern Saw-whet Owls (Aegolius acadicus) in the Ozark Highlands

Studying movement ecology is important not only in understanding the distribution of a species, but in understanding the magnitude of migration through certain regions, as well as explaining regional differences in demographics. The Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) is a small, migratory forest owl found throughout much of North America. Despite being captured widely during fall migration, the species’ movement ecology is poorly understood. Exploratory studies outside the saw-whet owl’s normal range have successfully captured the species during fall migration. In the Ozark Highlands ecoregion of the central United States, their status has been considered vagrant during fall and winter. Since 2010, saw-whet owls have been captured successfully in the region, historically considered south of their normal range. We sought to assess fall migration and demographics of 412 saw-whet owls captured at four study sites in the Ozark Highlands of Missouri, northern Arkansas, and eastern Oklahoma. Saw-whet owls were captured from mid-October to early-December in the study region. Capture rate varied by latitude and among sites. Demography of owls travelling through the region varied by migration type, with an increase in captures and proportion of hatch-year individuals during irruption years. In addition to likely being a regular fall migrant through the Ozarks, we documented saw-whet owls wintering in the southwestern Ozarks. During autumn migration of 2016 and 2017, we deployed 27 radio transmitters on saw-whet owls captured at our Arkansas banding site. Detections were obtained from 17 tagged individuals during the following winters. Saw-whet owls remained in the region from 1 to 112 days after release, suggesting the species winters to some extent in northwestern Arkansas. Based on assessment of landscape and habitat variables at diurnal roost sites, the species seems to prefer open shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) habitat. Further study is required to determine the full extent of the saw-whet owl’s winter range; however, ample pine forest and cedar glades could provide optimal wintering habitat throughout the Ozark Highlands

The effects of dopamine D1 and D2 antagonists on cocaine-induced CPP in preweanling rats

The effects of dopamine D1 and D2 antagonists on conditioned place preference (CPP) and locomotor activity were assessed. A total of three experiments were conducted. In each experiment there were two conditioning days followed by a test day. The results indicate that DA D1 and D2 receptors have distictly different roles in the mediation of behavior

Decision Analysis and Validation of Value Focused Thinking Decision Models Using Multivariate Analysis Techniques

Decision Analysis (DA) is a useful tool to assist decision makers (DM) with difficult and complex decisions using mathematical models. Value Focused Thinking (VFT) models are a useful DA tool widely employed in the Air Force. However, VFT models are rarely validated. This research will attempt to validate any given VFT model and provide insight into the discriminating attributes of the alternative set. First, a two group discriminant analysis is applied the alternative set given the prior knowledge of the selected alternatives. Next, compromise programming is used attempt to minimize the distance between the posterior probability of an alternative being selected and its current weighted value by varying the weights. This set of optimized weights is then used in the two group discriminant analysis to classify the alternative set and attempt to validate the VFT model by selecting the same subset of alternatives chosen by the DM. Additionally, this process will provide insight into what attributes of a given alternative set are actually the discriminating factors in the decision which may or may not be the attributes that are most important to or most heavily weighted by the DM

Grammatical morphology of children reared in poverty: implications for specific language impairment

In the current study, the past tense systems of children reared in poverty were examined. Guiding the study was Rice and Wexler’s (1996) Extended Optional Infinitive (EOI) account, which makes a number of predictions about the past tense systems of children with specific language impairment (SLI). The goal of the current study was to determine if these predictions apply to other children with weak language systems, such as those reared in poverty. The participants included 15 six-year-olds from low-income backgrounds (LSES), 15 age-matched peers from middle-income backgrounds (AM), and 15 language-matched peers from middle-income backgrounds (LM). All were African American and speakers of African American English (AAE). Data were generated from spontaneous language samples, two productivity probes, an elicitation probe, and a grammaticality judgment probe. These tasks allowed for examination of 11 aspects of the children’s past tense systems. For eight of the 11 aspects of past tense marking examined, children reared in poverty performed differently than what has been documented for children with SLI. For example, children in the LSES group performed similar to the controls on the past tense task but lower than the controls on the past participle task. Children with SLI have been documented to present the opposite pattern, with more difficulties on past tense than on past participle forms. On the elicitation probe, the children in the LSES group also favored the regular form, while children with SLI are known to favor the irregular form. The findings support the specificity of the EOI model for children with SLI. The results also help illuminate some of the ways in which children reared in poverty and children with language impairments differ. This is important because both groups of children frequently score low on standardized language tests and thus are indistinguishable from one another when decisions about service eligibility are made. Finally, the findings of the study provide much needed detail about the language systems of typically developing AAE speakers as a function of social class. Specifically, social class differences between the AAE speakers studied here were found to be minimal and primarily limited to past participle use