Test status and experience with the 7.5 megawatt Mod-2 wind turbine cluster

The Mod-2 wind turbine cluster is described. The site preparation and construction activities are discussed, and preliminary test results, status, and plans are presented

A Brief Introduction to Medicare and the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals

Medicare is a single-payer federal program providing health insurance for individuals ages 65 and older, those meeting the definition for permanent disability within the Social Security Act, 1 and those with end-stage renal disease.2 Medicare also covers care that is both reasonable and necessary in connection with the diagnosis and treatment of the underlying illness or injury.3 Medicare evolved from the Social Security Act over the course of three decades. The original Social Security Act4 was drafted between 1934 and 1935 by the Committee on Economic Security;5 the Committee during the first term of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency, had been under the oversight of United States Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins

Veteran Suicide Crisis

For centuries, the United States of America has been deploying military men and women to go fight for the sovereignty of the country. However, when these men and women have done their duty and go back home with the hope to transition back to civilian life, the transition becomes difficult. These veterans come back home bearing physical and mental illnesses that they did not have when they first signed in to the military. Due to frequent combat exposure, veterans are physically harmed and may be left with function limitation. Similarly, the gruesome experiences of bloodshed and death they experience in the battlefield taunts their memories leaving them with psychological disorders such as depression and PTSD. The physical or mental harm can predispose the veteran to suicidal behavior. According to national statistics, about 20 veterans die every day through suicide. Though numerous organizations have been set up to help veteran deal with the trauma of combat and adequate adapt to civilian life, the number of deaths by suicide are continuously increasing. Currently, at least 6 veterans who are receiving services to help them cope with their issues of combat exposure die every day by suicide. The main purpose of this study is to determine the rates of suicides among veterans discern the risk factors that predispose the veteran to lose the will to die and commit suicide and find ways that these suicide rates can be reduced. Gender, family history of suicidal behavior, previous history of suicide and access to lethal weapons are some of the factors that elevate the risks for suicide ideations among veterans. Psychological factors, social factors, medical conditions and mental disorders are some of the reasons why suicide levels are high in the country. Keywords: veterans, deployment, combat exposure, mental health, suicide, depression, post- traumatic stress disorde

The Geographic Distribution of US Executions

We review statistical patterns of the geographic distribution of US executions, compare them to homicides, and demonstrate extremely high degrees of concentration of executions in the modern period compared to previous historical periods. We further show that this unprecedented level of concentration has been increasing over the past 20 years. We demonstrate that it is virtually uncorrelated with factors related to homicides. Finally, we show that it corresponds to a statistical distribution associated with “self-reinforcing” processes: a power-law or exponential distribution. These findings stand whether we look at individual counties within death-penalty states, across the 50 states of the United States, or look at the international distribution of executions across countries in recent years. The substantive conclusion from the statistical patterns observed is that these cannot be explained merely by random variation around some general average. Rather, localities start down a path, then are reinforced in their pathways. There appears to be little to no logic about why certain counties are the high-use counties, whereas the vast majority have never executed a single individual in 40 years of experience with the modern death penalty, often in spite of thousands of homicides. Our research indicates that a main determinant of whether an individual will be executed is not the crime they commit, but the jurisdiction’s experience with executing others. This is not acceptable—legally, morally, or constitutionally

A Low Noise Receiver for Submillimeter Astronomy

A broadband, low noise heterodyne receiver, suitable for astronomical use, has been built using a Pb alloy superconducting tunnel junction (SIS). The RF coupling is quasioptical via a bowtie antenna on a quartz lens and is accomplished without any tuning elements. In its preliminary version the double sideband receiver noise temperature rises from 205 K at 116 GHz to 815 K at 466 GHz. This is the most sensitive broadband receiver yet reported for sub-mm wavelengths. Its multi-octave sensitivity and low local oscillator power requirements make this receiver ideal for remote ground observatories or space-borne telescopes such as NASA's Large Deployable Reflector. A version of this receiver is now being built for NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory

American Indian Women and Sexual Assault: Challenges and New Opportunities

This article informs social workers about sexual violence against American Indian and Alaskan Native (AI/AN) women and the policy reforms in the 2010 Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA). It describes the unmet needs of AI/AN survivors, reviews the TLOA reforms on sexual assault in relation to social work and public health principles, discusses the complementary roles for social workers and public health practitioners in reform efforts, and offers guidance for professional participation that emphasizes tribal sovereignty, indigenous capacity, and cultural competence

A Study of a Mini-drift GEM Tracking Detector

A GEM tracking detector with an extended drift region has been studied as part of an effort to develop new tracking detectors for future experiments at RHIC and for the Electron Ion Collider that is being planned for BNL or JLAB. The detector consists of a triple GEM stack with a small drift region that was operated in a mini TPC type configuration. Both the position and arrival time of the charge deposited in the drift region were measured on the readout plane which allowed the reconstruction of a short vector for the track traversing the chamber. The resulting position and angle information from the vector could then be used to improve the position resolution of the detector for larger angle tracks, which deteriorates rapidly with increasing angle for conventional GEM tracking detectors using only charge centroid information. Two types of readout planes were studied. One was a COMPASS style readout plane with 400 micron pitch XY strips and the other consisted of 2x10mm2 chevron pads. The detector was studied in test beams at Fermilab and CERN, along with additional measurements in the lab, in order to determine its position and angular resolution for incident track angles up to 45 degrees. Several algorithms were studied for reconstructing the vector using the position and timing information in order to optimize the position and angular resolution of the detector for the different readout planes. Applications for large angle tracking detectors at RHIC and EIC are also discussed.Comment: Submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Scienc

Exposure damage mechanisms for KCl windows in high power laser systems

An experimental study of the 10.6 micrometer and 0.6328 micrometer optical properties of single crystal and europium doped polycrystal is described. Significant variations in the optical properties are observed over periods of exposure up to 100 hours. Models are proposed to predict the 10.6 micrometer absorptivity for long exposure periods. Mechanical creep has been detected in both materials at high temperature