Rethinking Boundaries, Spaces, and Networks Between Geography and Military Science: Understanding and Actualizing Real-Time Integrated Command and Control for Joint Air Operations

Imagine a military commander standing around a table with a three-dimensional hologram projected onto to it. The hologram is of an ongoing air war of which this general is in command. Friendly forces are portrayed in blue and enemy forces in red as the opposing forces movements and actions are tracked and continuously updated. The commander has god’s eye view of where his forces are positioned relative to the enemy’s forces. Because of this view, the commander is able to make effective decisions with quick synergistic efficiency to achieve his desired outcome: defeat of the enemy. This scene invokes an image akin to a science fiction film of a futuristic air war with man and machine delicately intertwined. Films such as Star Wars and, notably, Ender’s Game have portrayed this concept; however, technology and human understanding has made these new concepts a reality. For the United States military to maintain its overmatch capability advantage over the advanced technologies and concepts of the enemy we must fundamentally shift our doctrine, policies, concepts for better integration of joint air operations. Informed by geography, the goal of this thesis is to call for a new approach to integrating command and control in the context of joint air operations. China and Russia are growing peer threats that seek to challenge the United States militarily. The current system does not integrate the air, space, and cyberspace domains enough to prosecute air wars. This new approach for joint air operations is called the Real-time integrated command and control system

An analysis of the relationship between snowpack and groundwater across Utah watersheds.

This thesis examined what type of relationship existed between snow water equivalence (SWE) volume and groundwater elevation within six sub-watersheds in Utah. Data was gathered on SWE from seventeen SNOTEL sites and groundwater elevation data was gathered from six continuously monitored groundwater wells. This data was gathered for January through May for 2011, 2013, and 2014 in order to represent the water conditions that were above average, below average, and average respectively. Using MLR formulas the total SWE for each sub-watershed was determined for each year/month. Afterwards a correlation analysis was performed to determine if any association existed between SWE volume and groundwater elevation. It was determined that there were strong negative correlations between SWE volume and groundwater elevation in April and May and that a decrease in SWE volume across one month would result in an increase of groundwater elevation for the subsequent month

Spatial Time-Series: Pollution Pattern Recognition under Irregular Interventions

The Fernald Environmental Restoration Management Corporation (FERMCO) has noted the introduction of arsenic contamination to groundwater around the area of the groundwater recovery system, which captures uranium contaminated groundwater. The introduction of arsenic occurs during high levels of pumping and is particularly sensitive to the western two of the five pumps. Auto-Regressive Moving Average (ARMA) and Spatial-Temporal ARMA (STARMA) empirical analyses are used to model the level of arsenic contamination found through time. The intervention of varied levels of pumping is modeled with a transfer function using analytic techniques to create a causal intervention transfer function input series to give physical meaning to the impulse response weights found. Spatial weights employed in the STARMA modeling are also created using analytic, causal methods. Results suggest a physical interpretation of the relationship between a particular level of pumping and the amount of arsenic to be found at the site in the temporal case, while including the effect of the pumping on a site of interest\u27s neighbors in the spatial-temporal case. Models presented may be employed in the forecasting of arsenic levels at monitoring well sites due to a given change in the operation level of the groundwater recovery system

Covalidation of Dissimilarly Structured Models

A methodology is presented which allows comparison between models constructed under different modeling paradigms. Consider the following situation: Two models are constructed to study different aspects of the same system. One model simulates a fleet of aircraft moving a given combination of cargo and passengers from an onload point to an offload point. A second model is a linear programming model that optimizes the aircraft and route selection required for the same scenario. We develop a methodology to structure the comparison between large-scale models such as these. Models that compare favorably using this methodology are deemed covalid. Models that perform similarly under the same input conditions are covalid in a narrow sense. Models that are covalid (in this narrow sense) hold the potential to be used in an iterative fashion to improve the input (and thus, the output) of one another We prove that, under certain regularity conditions, this method of output/input crossflow converges, and if the convergence is to a valid representation of the real-world system, the models are covalid in a wide sense. Further, if one of the models has been independently validated, then we may effect a validation by association of the other model through this process

Iridium-Catalysed Borylation of Heteroaromatic C-H Bonds

Organoboron compounds are of great importance to organic, medicinal, and materials chemistry, representing key intermediates for the introduction of a wide variety of functional groups. This is best exemplified by the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction. In recent years, the direct C-H borylation of arenes has become an attractive method for the synthesis of aryl boronate esters. However, this transformation is more challenging for heteroarenes bearing an azinyl nitrogen atom, where the presence of the nitrogen lone pair can inhibit the reaction. This is particularly evident at the proximal C-H bond, where C-H activation often does not occur. Whilst many heteroarenes have been investigated, aminopyrazoles remain underexplored. This nucleus features in an array of bioactive molecules, such as herbicides, anti-cancer, and anti-parastic drugs. This thesis presents simple methods for the selective C-H functionalisation of 3- and 5-aminopyrazoles

World-Building Warnings: Depth in Creative Art To Consider Societal Paths

Addressing the issue of artists often failing to visually communicate through world-building concepts, this paper seeks to inform a design piece demonstrating the potential effectiveness of a message communicated through visual world-building in a manner that minimises audience disengagement and maximises articulate artistic communication. Questions arise as to what dangers a future society may face that could be worth using as a framework to address this communication problem, whether techniques surrounding visual world-building can be successful in this task, and where artists go astray in their own attempts. Research conducted suggests that psychology, culture, and semiotics play an important role in effective visual communication, where harmony must be achieved between aesthetic engagement and message-bearing signifiers. Artists fail when the scales are tipped too far one way or the other, or when they either play it too safe within established stereotypes or venture too far into new conceptual ideas that audiences have no foundation to connect with. Focus on technical skill rather than visual communication in education hinders artistic success, but a visual solution is possible to demonstrate ways in which inter-disciplinary communication and awareness can address limitations

Master of Science

thesisUntethered magnetic devices such as magnetic capsule endoscopes, magnetic swimming microrobots, and magnetic screws, as well as tethered magnetic devices such as magnet-tipped catheters and magnet-tipped cochlear-implant electrode arrays, can be actuate

Tumor-promoting phorbol esters stimulate C3b and C3b' receptor-mediated phagocytosis in cultured human monocytes

Monocytes were isolated in high yield (approximately 80%) and purity (greater than 90%) by Percoll gradient centrifugation and incubated in Teflon culture vessels. Using this culture method, we routinely recovered 80% of the cells originally placed into culture. Studies of the C3b and C3b' receptors of these monocytes showed that the function of both receptors could be dramatically altered by treating the cells with tumor-promoting phorbol esters. Both C3b and C3b' receptors of human monocytes efficiently mediate attachment of erythrocytes coated with the corresponding ligands, but do not promote their ingestion. However, monocytes treated with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) or phorbol didecanoate ingest C3b- and C3b'-coated erythrocytes. Phorbol esters that are inactive as tumor promoters do not stimulate C3 receptor-mediated phagocytosis. The ability of monocytes to respond to PMA by activation of C3 receptors is developmentally regulated. Freshly isolated monocytes do not take up C3b- or C3b'-coated erythrocytes in response to PMA, but after 3 d of culture they show strong PMA-stimulated uptake. The stimulatory effect of PMA on monocyte C3b and C3b' receptor function occurs within minutes, is stable for hours, is cycloheximide insensitive, and can be inhibited with colchicine. Several lines of evidence indicates that phagocytosis of C3b or C3b'-coated erythrocytes is specifically mediated by the monocytes' C3b and C3b' receptors. First, erythrocytes attached to monocytes with concanavalin A are not ingested when the monocytes are treated with PMA. Second, monocytes plated on IgG-bearing substrates lose Fc receptor activity on their nonadherent surfaces but retain the capacity to ingest C3b- or C3b'-coated erythrocytes after PMA treatment. Third, PMA-treated monocytes plated on C3b-coated surfaces lose C3b receptor activity on their nonadherent surfaces but retain the capacity to ingest C3b'-coated erythrocytes. Conversely, PMA-treated monocytes plated on C3b'-coated surfaces show reduced C3b' receptors activity on their nonadherent surfaces but retain the capacity to ingest C3b-coated erythrocytes

Receptors for C3b and C3bi promote phagocytosis but not the release of toxic oxygen from human phagocytes

We have measured the release of H2O2 from granulocytes, monocytes, and macrophages during spreading on ligand-coated culture surfaces. While IgG-coated surfaces stimulate vigorous release of H2O2, neither C3b- nor C3bi-coated surfaces promoted appreciable release of H2O2 despite full ligation of C3b and C3bi receptors. We also measured release of H2O2 from cultured monocytes spreading on surfaces coated with both fibronectin and C3. Under such circumstances, the C3 receptors elicit a strong phagocytic response, but no H2O2 release was recorded. We conclude that the C3b and C3bi receptors of monocytes and granulocytes do not signal the generation of toxic oxygen intermediates from these cells