Alien Registration- Rudge, John T. (Medway, Penobscot County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/8084/thumbnail.jp

Forecasting workload for Defense Logistics Agency distribution

MBA Professional ReportThe Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) predicts issue and receipt workload for its distribution agency in order to maintain adequate staffing levels and set proper rates for customers. Inaccurate forecasts lead to inaccurate staffing, subsequently leading to inaccurate pricing. DLA’s current regression forecasting model is no longer adequate for predicting future workload for DLA Distribution. We explore multiple forecasting techniques and provide a methodology for selecting a model that is a viable and accurate alternative for DLA. Our methodology encompasses best-fit determination, a comparison of predictability through back-casting, and a sensitivity exercise to see reaction and stability of our selected models’ predictions. Finally, we compare our best performing model with the current regression model to see what would have been reported if our model had been used instead of the current model for recent Program Budget Review (PBR) cycles. Our results suggest that an auto-regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model used with critical assessment and managerial judgment offers a viable alternative to the current model for predicting distribution workload.http://archive.org/details/forecastingworkl1094544537Captain, United States ArmyMajor, United States ArmyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

A Pair Polarimeter for Linearly Polarized High Energy Photons

A high quality beam of linearly polarized photons of several GeV will become available with the coherent bremsstrahlung technique at JLab. We have developed a polarimeter which requires about two meters of the beam line, has an analyzing power of 20% and an efficiency of 0.02%. The layout and first results of a polarimeter test on the laser back-scattering photon beam at SPring-8/LEPS are presented

Operation of Faddeev-Kernel in Configuration Space

We present a practical method to solve Faddeev three-body equations at energies above three-body breakup threshold as integral equations in coordinate space. This is an extension of previously used method for bound states and scattering states below three-body breakup threshold energy. We show that breakup components in three-body reactions produce long-range effects on Faddeev integral kernels in coordinate space, and propose numerical procedures to treat these effects. Using these techniques, we solve Faddeev equations for neutron-deuteron scattering to compare with benchmark solutions.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, to be published in Few-Body System

Cognitive decline heralds onset of symptomatic inherited prion disease

The clinical effectiveness of any disease-modifying treatment for prion disease, as for other neurodegenerative disorders, will depend on early treatment before damage to neural tissue is irrevocable. Thus, there is a need to identify markers that predict disease onset in healthy at-risk individuals. Whilst imaging and neurophysiological biomarkers have shown limited use in this regard, we recently reported progressive neurophysiological changes in individuals with the inherited prion disease mutation P102L. We have also previously demonstrated a signature pattern of fronto-parietal dysfunction in mild prion disease. Here we address whether these cognitive features anticipate the onset of symptoms in a unique sample of patients with inherited prion disease. In the cross-sectional analysis, we analysed the performance of patients at three time points in the course of disease onset: prior to symptoms (n = 27), onset of subjective symptoms without positive clinical findings (n = 8) and symptomatic with positive clinical findings (n = 24). In the longitudinal analysis, we analysed data from 24 patients who were presymptomatic at the time of recruitment and were followed up over a period of up to 17 years, of whom 16 remained healthy and eight converted to become symptomatic. In the cross-sectional analysis, the key finding was that, relative to a group of 25 healthy non-gene carrier controls, patients with subjective symptoms but without positive clinical findings were impaired on a smaller but similar set of tests (Trail Making Test part A, Stroop test, Performance IQ, gesture repetition, figure recall) to those previously found to be impaired in mild prion disease. In the longitudinal analysis, Trail Making Test parts A and B, Stroop test and Performance IQ scores significantly discriminated between patients who remained presymptomatic and those who converted, even before the converters reached criteria for formal diagnosis. Notably, performance on the Stroop test significantly discriminated between presymptomatic patients and converters before the onset of clinical symptoms [area under the curve = 0.83 (95% confidence interval, 0.62–1.00), P = 0.009]. Thus, we report here, for the first time, neuropsychological abnormalities in healthy patients prior to either symptom onset or clinical diagnosis of inherited prion disease. This constitutes an important component of an evolving profile of clinical and biomarker abnormalities in this crucial group for preventive medicine

Loss of AP-3 function affects spontaneous and evoked release at hippocampal mossy fiber synapses

Synaptic vesicle (SV) exocytosis mediating neurotransmitter release occurs spontaneously at low intraterminal calcium concentrations and is stimulated by a rise in intracellular calcium. Exocytosis is compensated for by the reformation of vesicles at plasma membrane and endosomes. Although the adaptor complex AP-3 was proposed to be involved in the formation of SVs from endosomes, whether its function has an indirect effect on exocytosis remains unknown. Using mocha mice, which are deficient in functional AP-3, we identify an AP-3-dependent tetanus neurotoxin-resistant asynchronous release that can be evoked at hippocampal mossy fiber (MF) synapses. Presynaptic targeting of the tetanus neurotoxin-resistant vesicle soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) tetanus neurotoxin-insensitive vesicle-associated membrane protein (TI-VAMP) is lost in mocha hippocampal MF terminals, whereas the localization of synaptobrevin 2 is unaffected. In addition, quantal release in mocha cultures is more frequent and more sensitive to sucrose. We conclude that lack of AP-3 results in more constitutive secretion and loss of an asynchronous evoked release component, suggesting an important function of AP-3 in regulating SV exocytosis at MF terminals

Effect of physiological overload on pregnancy in women with mitral regurgitation

OBJECTIVES: to evaluate the structural and functional heart abnormalities in women with mitral regurgitation during pregnancy.INTRODUCTION: Women with mitral regurgitation progress well during pregnancy. However, the effects on the heart of the association between pregnancy and mitral regurgitation are not well established.METHODS: This is a case-control, longitudinal prospective study. Echocardiograms were performed in 18 women with mitral regurgitation at the 12th and 36th week of pregnancy and on the 45th day of the puerperium. Twelve age-matched healthy and pregnant women were included as controls and underwent the same evaluation as the study group.RESULTS: Compared with controls, women with mitral regurgitation presented increased left cardiac chambers in all evaluations. Increasing left atrium during pregnancy occurred only in the mitral regurgitation group. At the end of the puerperium, women with mitral regurgitation showed persistent enlargement of the left atrium compared with the beginning of pregnancy (5.0 +/- 1.1 cm vs 4.6 +/- 0.9 cm; p < 0.05). Reduced left ventricular relative wall thickness (0.13 +/- 0.02 vs 0.16 +/- 0.02; p < 0.05) and an increased peak of afterload (278 +/- 55 g/cm(2) vs 207 +/- 28 g/cm(2); p < 0.05) was still observed on the 45th day after delivery in the mitral regurgitation group compared with controls.CONCLUSIONS: Pregnancy causes unfavorable structural alterations in women with mitral regurgitation that are associated with an aggravation of the hemodynamic overload

Phylogenetic characterisation of circulating, clinical influenza isolates from Bali, Indonesia: preliminary report from the BaliMEI project.

BACKGROUND: Human influenza represents a major public health concern, especially in south-east Asia where the risk of emergence and spread of novel influenza viruses is particularly high. The BaliMEI study aims to conduct a five year active surveillance and characterisation of influenza viruses in Bali using an extensive network of participating healthcare facilities. METHODS: Samples were collected during routine diagnostic treatment in healthcare facilities. In addition to standard clinical and molecular methods for influenza typing, next generation sequencing and subsequent de novo genome assembly were performed to investigate the phylogeny of the collected patient samples. RESULTS: The samples collected are characteristic of the seasonally circulating influenza viruses with indications of phylogenetic links to other samples characterised in neighbouring countries during the same time period. CONCLUSIONS: There were some strong phylogenetic links with sequences from samples collected in geographically proximal regions, with some of the samples from the same time-period resulting to small clusters at the tree-end points. However this work, which is the first of its kind completely performed within Indonesia, supports the view that the circulating seasonal influenza in Bali reflects the strains circulating in geographically neighbouring areas as would be expected to occur within a busy regional transit centre

Quantitative EEG parameters correlate with the progression of human prion diseases

BACKGROUND: Prion diseases are universally fatal and often rapidly progressive neurodegenerative diseases. EEG has long been used in the diagnosis of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; however, the characteristic waveforms do not occur in all types of prion diseases. Here, we re-evaluate the utility of EEG by focusing on the development of biomarkers. We test whether abnormal quantitative EEG parameters can be used to measure disease progression in prion diseases or predict disease onset in healthy individuals at risk of disease. METHODS: In the National Prion Monitoring Cohort study, we did quantitative encephalography on 301 occasions in 29 healthy controls and 67 patients with prion disease. The patients had either inherited prion disease or sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. We computed the main background frequency, the α and θ power and the α/θ power ratio, then averaged these within 5 electrode groups. These measurements were then compared among participant groups and correlated with functional and cognitive scores cross-sectionally and longitudinally. RESULTS: We found lower main background frequency, α power and α/θ power ratio and higher θ power in patients compared to control participants. The main background frequency, the power in the α band and the α/θ power ratio also differed in a consistent way among the patient groups. Moreover, the main background frequency and the α/θ power ratio correlated significantly with functional and cognitive scores. Longitudinally, change in these parameters also showed significant correlation with the change in clinical and cognitive scores. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the use of quantitative EEG to follow the progression of prion disease, with potential to help evaluate the treatment effects in future clinical-trials