Overseas Assignments: Expatriate and Spousal Adjustment in the U.S. Air Force

The present study examined the relationship between cultural intelligence (CQ), expatriate and spousal/partner adjustment, and satisfaction with an overseas military assignment at a NATO Air Force base. Cultural Intelligence was measured using the Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) by Ang, et al. (2007). Expatriate adjustment was measured using the Expatriate Adjustment scale by Black & Stephens (1989). Spouse/partner adjustment was measured using the Spouse Adjustment scale by Black & Stephens (1989). Satisfaction was measured with a 5-item scale developed by the researchers. All data was collected via an online survey. There were 178 Airmen respondents and 89 spouse/partner respondents. Significant, positive relationships were found between cultural intelligence and adjustment. A regression analysis indicated that motivational CQ was the strongest driver of adjustment for both spouses/partners and Airmen. Significant, positive relationships were found between adjustment and satisfaction with the overall assignment, and more specifically, satisfaction with life on base. Regression analysis indicated that general adjustment predicted overall satisfaction for spouses/partners and Airmen. Interaction adjustment predicted base satisfaction for spouses/partners. Both general and work adjustment predicted base satisfaction for Airmen. In the Airmen sample, support was found for adjustment as a mediator between CQ and overall satisfaction, but this support was not found in the partner sample. Overall, CQ was a significant predictor of adjustment, and adjustment was a significant predictor of satisfaction. There was partial support for adjustment as a mediator between CQ and satisfaction

Handle with Care: Constitutional Standards for Information Sharing in Medical-Correctional Transition

Correctional institutions have an Eighth Amendment obligation to provide healthcare to inmates. In practice though, jails and prisons struggle to provide adequate care to millions of incarcerated individuals, roughly half of whom have at least one chronic health condition. As a result, harsh conditions of confinement routinely threaten the health of inmates who require specific medical accommodations. Recognizing this risk, the courts hold corrections institutions liable for harm when government officials are “deliberately indifferent” to prisoner medical needs. Beginning with the HITECH Act of 2009, mainstream medicine embraced tools that eliminate gaps in medical communication. Today, most Americans rely on networks of healthcare providers who can seamlessly exchange information about their treatment. Correctional institutions, despite the formidable health needs of inmates, are infrequently connected to such information-sharing networks. Corrections officials who are “deliberately indifferent” to these tools may run afoul of the Constitution. This Note assesses the Eighth Amendment right to medical care in the context of ubiquitous networks for health information sharing. It finds that correctional health systems often fall short of the constitutional obligation to communicate medical information. I argue that legislators and the courts should adopt clear standards for correctional-medical information sharing which protect the right to a safe transition of medical care

Quasi-Periodic Pulsations during the Impulsive and Decay phases of an X-class Flare

Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP) are often observed in X-ray emission from solar flares. To date, it is unclear what their physical origins are. Here, we present a multi-instrument investigation of the nature of QPP during the impulsive and decay phases of the X1.0 flare of 28 October 2013. We focus on the character of the fine structure pulsations evident in the soft X-ray time derivatives and compare this variability with structure across multiple wavelengths including hard X-ray and microwave emission. We find that during the impulsive phase of the flare, high correlations between pulsations in the thermal and non-thermal emissions are seen. A characteristic timescale of ~20s is observed in all channels and a second timescale of ~55s is observed in the non-thermal emissions. Soft X-ray pulsations are seen to persist into the decay phase of this flare, up to 20 minutes after the non-thermal emission has ceased. We find that these decay phase thermal pulsations have very small amplitude and show an increase in characteristic timescale from ~40s up to ~70s. We interpret the bursty nature of the co-existing multi-wavelength QPP during the impulsive phase in terms of episodic particle acceleration and plasma heating. The persistent thermal decay phase QPP are most likely connected with compressive MHD processes in the post-flare loops such as the fast sausage mode or the vertical kink mode.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Towards inclusive social appraisal: risk, participation and democracy in governance of synthetic biology

Frameworks that govern the development and application of novel products, such as the products of synthetic biology, should involve all those who are interested or potentially affected by the products. The governance arrangements for novel products should also provide a democratic mechanism that allows affected parties to express their opinions on the direction that innovation does or does not take. In this paper we examine rationales, obstacles and opportunities for public participation in governance of novel synthetic biology products. Our analysis addresses issues such as uncertainties, the considering of alternative innovations, and broader social and environmental implications. The crucial issues in play go beyond safety alone, to include contending social values around diverse notions of benefit and harm. The paper highlights the need for more inclusive social appraisal mechanisms to inform governance of Synthetic Biology and alternative products, and discusses a few practical methods to help achieve this goal

Paper Session III-A - The Mobile Servicing System - A System Description

This paper is a systems description of the Mobile Servicing System (MSS) to be provided by Canada, an International Partner to the NASA Space Station Freedom. The paper desf nbes space segment, ground segment, and support systems. Spar is the prime contractor to the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC). The MSS will provide the functional capabilities for Space Station Freedom construction, maintenance, deployment, and retrieval of Free Flying Spacecraft and servicing of attached payloads

Detection and Interpretation Of Long-Lived X-Ray Quasi-Periodic Pulsations in the X-Class Solar Flare On 2013 May 14

Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP) seen in the time derivative of the GOES soft X-ray light curves are analyzed for the near-limb X3.2 event on 14 May 2013. The pulsations are apparent for a total of at least two hours from the impulsive phase to well into the decay phase, with a total of 163 distinct pulses evident to the naked eye. A wavelet analysis shows that the characteristic time scale of these pulsations increases systematically from $\sim$25 s at 01:10 UT, the time of the GOES peak, to $\sim$100 s at 02:00 UT. A second ridge in the wavelet power spectrum, most likely associated with flaring emission from a different active region, shows an increase from $\sim$40 s at 01:40 UT to $\sim$100 s at 03:10 UT. We assume that the QPP that produced the first ridge result from vertical kink-mode oscillations of the newly formed loops following magnetic reconnection in the coronal current sheet. This allows us to estimate the magnetic field strength as a function of altitude given the density, loop length, and QPP time scale as functions of time determined from the GOES light curves and RHESSI images. The calculated magnetic field strength of the newly formed loops ranges from about $\sim$500 G at an altitude of 24 Mm to a low value of $\sim$10 G at 60 Mm, in general agreement with the expected values at these altitudes. Fast sausage mode oscillations are also discussed and cannot be ruled out as an alternate mechanism for producing the QPP

Increased attractiveness of honeybee hive product volatiles to adult small hive beetle, Aethina tumida, resulting from small hive beetle larval infestation

The small hive beetle, Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), is a recent but significant pest of honeybee Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) hives in various regions throughout the world, including Eastern Australia. The larval stage of this beetle damages hives when they feed on brood, pollen, and honeycomb, leaving behind fermented wastes. In cases of extreme damage, hives collapse and are turned to an odorous mass of larvae in fermenting hive products. The yeast Kodamaea ohmeri (Etchells & Bell) Yamada et al. (Ascomycota) has been consistently isolated from the fermenting material as well as each life stage of this beetle. Various studies have noted that the small hive beetle is attracted to volatiles from hive products and those of the yeast K. ohmeri, although earlier studies have not used naturally occurring hive products as their source of fermentation. This study investigated changes through time in the attractiveness of natural honeybee hive products to the small hive beetle as the hive products were altered by the action of beetle larvae and fermentation by K. ohmeri. We used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and choice-test behavioural assays to investigate these changes using products sampled from three apiaries. Attractiveness of the fermenting hive products (‘slime’) increased as fermentation progressed, and volatile profiles became more complex. Fermenting hive products remained extremely attractive for more than 30 days, significantly longer than previous reports. These results have strong implications for the development of an external attractant trap to assist in the management of this invasive pest

Increased attractiveness of honeybee hive product volatiles to adult small hive beetle, Aethina tumida, resulting from small hive beetle larval infestation

The small hive beetle, Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), is a recent but significant pest of honeybee Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) hives in various regions throughout the world, including Eastern Australia. The larval stage of this beetle damages hives when they feed on brood, pollen, and honeycomb, leaving behind fermented wastes. In cases of extreme damage, hives collapse and are turned to an odorous mass of larvae in fermenting hive products. The yeast Kodamaea ohmeri (Etchells & Bell) Yamada et al. (Ascomycota) has been consistently isolated from the fermenting material as well as each life stage of this beetle. Various studies have noted that the small hive beetle is attracted to volatiles from hive products and those of the yeast K. ohmeri, although earlier studies have not used naturally occurring hive products as their source of fermentation. This study investigated changes through time in the attractiveness of natural honeybee hive products to the small hive beetle as the hive products were altered by the action of beetle larvae and fermentation by K. ohmeri. We used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and choice-test behavioural assays to investigate these changes using products sampled from three apiaries. Attractiveness of the fermenting hive products (‘slime’) increased as fermentation progressed, and volatile profiles became more complex. Fermenting hive products remained extremely attractive for more than 30 days, significantly longer than previous reports. These results have strong implications for the development of an external attractant trap to assist in the management of this invasive pest