On Killing al-Zarqawi: Does United States Policy Know Its Tool in the War on Terror?

This article appeared in Homeland Security Affairs (July 2006), v.2 no.2Much of the media-pundit and popular analysis that has followed the death of al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has focused on how his death will affect the outcome of the war in Iraq. However, the emphasis on outcome is not the right approach. Al-Zarqawi'۪s death serves a greater strategic purpose both in the war in Iraq and in the larger war on terror, when viewed as process rather than as outcome. From the premise that al-Zarqawi'۪s death leaves the Iraqi insurgency and al Qaeda intact and capable of continuing to fight, the questions for the United States become: Does his death advance United States policy in the war in Iraq, and the overall war on terror? How successful is the United States in disrupting the processes of the Iraqi Insurgency and of al Qaeda? As a corollary, what are the domestic implications? This article argues that the answers perhaps can be found in the tools of policy that are available to the United States.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

City of Omaha Personnel Department: Analysis and Recommendations

The Center for Applied Urban Research undertook an analysis of the city of Omaha personnel department during the winter and spring of 1983. This is a summary of the principal findings and recommendations of that analysis. Detailed discussion regarding these and other important issues of personnel management in Omaha can be found in the body of this report

An Examination of Tribal Nation Integration in Homeland Security National Preparedness

Research has established that national homeland security policy requires a whole community or all-of-nation approach to national security preparedness. What is less clear is whether all stakeholders are integrated into or benefit from this collective effort. This narrative policy analysis examined the relationship between a federally-recognized group of Native American tribal nations and homeland security national preparedness to explore whether tribal nations are effectively integrated with the collective effort for national preparedness. The theoretical framework stemmed from a convergence of social contract theory and conflict theory. Interviews (n = 21) were conducted with preparedness authorities from government agencies, and from tribal nations and nongovernmental organizations that advocate on behalf of tribal nations. Data were analyzed using Roe\u27s narrative policy analysis technique. Results revealed areas of convergence of the government and tribal narratives on the historical disenfranchisement of tribal nations; findings also showed areas of divergence on how to better integrate tribal nations in homeland security national preparedness. The study concludes with a number of recommendations highlighting the manner in which national interests and tribal nation preparedness interests are intertwined. This study suggests that the nation\u27s homeland security may be better served by greater inclusion of tribal nations in national preparedness efforts. The results of this study contribute to positive social change by giving voice to a heretofore disenfranchised social group, Native Americans, and by allowing them to strengthen the metanarrative of homeland security national preparedness

Chemical Protection Against Ionizing Radiation

The scientific literature on radiation-protective drugs is reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the mechanisms Involved in determining the sensitivity of biological material to ionizing radiation and mechanisms of chemical radioprotection. In Section 1, the types of radiation are described and the effects of ionizing radiation on biological systems are reviewed. The effects of ionizing radiation are briefly contrasted with the effects of non-Ionizing radiation. Section I reviews the contributions of various natural factors which influence the inherent radiosensitivity of biological systems. Included in the list of these factors are water, oxygen, thiols, vitamins and antioxidants. Brief attention is given to the model describing competition between oxygen and natural radioprotective substances (principally, thiols) In determining the net cellular radiosensitivity. Several theories of the mechanism(s) of action of radioprotective drugs are described In Section 111. These mechanisms include the production of hypoxia, detoxication of radiochemical reactive species, stabilization of the radiobiological target and the enhancement of damage repair processes. Section IV describes the current strategies for the treatment of radiation injury. Likely areas in which fruitful research might be performed are described in Section V. Appendices are devoted to lists of currently-funded research projects Involving chemical radiation protection and a brief compendium of compounds which have been tested for radioprotective activity.https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/phs-facbooks/1016/thumbnail.jp

Reducing the Effect of Transducer Mount Induced Noise on Aeroacoustic Wind Tunnel Testing Data with a New Transducer Mount Design

Flight vehicle aeroacoustic environments induced during transonic and supersonic flight are usually predicted by subscale wind tunnel testing utilizing high frequency miniature pressure transducers. In order to minimize noise induced by the measurement itself, transducer flush mounting with the model surface is very important. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has accomplished flushness in recent testing campaigns via use of a transducer holder that can be machined and sanded. A single hole in the holder allows the flow medium to interact with the transducer diaphragm. Noise is induced by the resulting cavity however, and is a challenge to remove in post-processing. A new holder design has been developed that minimizes the effects of this transducer mount induced noise (XMIN) by reducing the resonance amplitude or increasing its resonance frequency beyond the range of interest. This paper describes a test conducted at the NASA/George C. Marshall Space Flight Center Trisonic Wind Tunnel intended to verify the effectiveness of this design. The results from this test show that this new transducer holder design does significantly reduce the influence of XMIN on measured fluctuating pressure levels without degrading a transducer's ability to accurately measure the noise external to the model

Proceedings of the 2008 Center for Homeland Defense and Security Security Annual Conference

This article appeared in Homeland Security Affairs (April 2008), Supplement no.2The 2008 Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) Annual Conference was conducted January 29-30, 2008, at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Its theme, Five Years of Meeting the Homeland Security Challenge, was tied to the fifth anniversary of the establishment of CHDS. More than 230 CHDS master's degree and Executive Leadership Program alumni, partners, sponsors and stakeholders participated in the event. The conference featured a keynote speaker; a question and answer plenary session with a panel of senior Homeland Defense and Security government executives; and three breakout sessions dealing with issues in Intelligence and Information Sharing, Border Security, and Public and Private Integration. These proceedings summarize the presentations and sessions from the conference.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Cyclosporin A protects hepatocytes subjected to high Ca2+ and oxidative stress

AbstractHepatocytes incubated with 0.8 mM t-butylhydroperoxide are protected by cyclosporin A when the medium Ca2+ concentration is 10 mM, but not when it is 2.5 mM. The highest Ca2+ level is associated with an inhibition of t-butylhydroperoxide-dependent malondialdehyde accumulation and with mitochondrial Ca2+ loading within the cells. These findings are new evidence that t-butylhydroperoxide can kill cells by peroxidation-dependent and -independent mechanisms, and suggest that the mitochondrial permeability transition and the resultant de-energization are components of the peroxidation-independent mechanism. Cyclosporin A may have considerable utility for the protection of cells subjected to oxidative stress

Relating Groundwater to Seasonal Wetlands in Southeastern Wisconsin, USA

Historically, drier types of wetlands have been difficult to characterize and are not well researched. Nonetheless, they are considered to reflect the precipitation history with little, if any, regard for possible relation to groundwater. Two seasonal coastal wetland types (wet prairie, sedge meadow) were investigated during three growing seasons at three sites in the Lake Michigan Basin, Wisconsin, USA. The six seasonal wetlands were characterized using standard soil and vegetation techniques and groundwater measurements from the shallow and deep systems. They all met wetland hydrology criteria (e.g., water within 30 cm of land surface for 5% of the growing season) during the early portion of the growing season despite the lack of appreciable regional groundwater discharge into the wetland root zones. Although root-zone duration analyses did not fit a lognormal distribution previously noted in groundwater-dominated wetlands, they were able to discriminate between the plant communities and showed that wet prairie communities had shorter durations of continuous soil saturation than sedge meadow communities. These results demonstrate that the relative rates of groundwater outflows can be important for wetland hydrology and resulting wetland type. Thus, regional stresses to the shallow groundwater system such as pumping or low Great Lake levels can be expected to affect even drier wetland types

E´ chelle diagrams and period spacings of g modes in: Doradus stars from four years of Kepler observations

We use photometry from the Kepler Mission to study oscillations in Doradus stars. Some stars show remarkably clear sequences of g modes and we use period ´echelle diagrams to measure period spacings and identifyrotationally split multiplets with ` = 1 and ` = 2.We find small deviations from regular period spacings that arise from the gradient in the chemical composition just outside the convective core. We also find stars for which the period spacing shows a strong linear trend as a function of period, consistent with relatively rapid rotation. Overall, th

Estimating error models for whole genome sequencing using mixtures of Dirichlet-multinomial distributions

Motivation: Accurate identification of genotypes is an essential part of the analysis of genomic data, including in identification of sequence polymorphisms, linking mutations with disease and determining mutation rates. Biological and technical processes that adversely affect genotyping include copy-number-variation, paralogous sequences, library preparation, sequencing error and reference-mapping biases, among others. Results: We modeled the read depth for all data as a mixture of Dirichlet-multinomial distributions, resulting in significant improvements over previously used models. In most cases the best model was comprised of two distributions. The major-component distribution is similar to a binomial distribution with low error and low reference bias. The minor-component distribution is overdispersed with higher error and reference bias. We also found that sites fitting the minor component are enriched for copy number variants and low complexity regions, which can produce erroneous genotype calls. By removing sites that do not fit the major component, we can improve the accuracy of genotype calls. Availability and Implementation: Methods and data files are available at https://github.com/ CartwrightLab/WuEtAl2017/ (doi:10.5281/zenodo.256858). Contact: [email protected] Supplementary information: Supplementary data is available at Bioinformatics online