The Advanced Research Projects Agency: A Discussion of Evaluation Techniques and Overview of the Agency\u27s Enchanted Past and Uncertain Future

Government often has been maligned as a source of funding for innovative research due to stories of failures caused by factors such as bureaucratic micromanagement, overly-restrictive regulation, and lack of customer focus. While basic research may be regarded as a public good, and therefore within the domain of government funding, applied research is often considered best left to the private sector. One government agency sometimes mentioned as an exception to the rule of government mismanagement in applied research is the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Founded in 1958, ARPA has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments in the area of military technology. Ironically, the agency is known equally well for the commercial spin-offs of its research, particularly in the area of computer technology. These commercial successes have led many in Washington, D.C. to believe the agency\u27s research agenda should be expanded to focus explicitly on dual-use technologies, with the intent of benefiting both the commercial and military sectors simultaneously. Reflecting this mission expansion, in recent years ARPA also has been viewed as a funding instrument to prop up America\u27s high-technology industries against foreign competition. Surprisingly, no study has attempted to quantify ARPA\u27s impact on technology in relation to its investment. This paper lays the groundwork for such an effort by surveying the most promising research evaluation methods, reviewing the sources of information available to support an evaluation, and identifying the potential pitfalls. Through a survey of articles related to ARPA and a review of a study commissioned by the agency in the late 1980s, the paper identifies factors potentially responsible for ARPA\u27s well-known list of achievements. Finally, the study warns that ARPA\u27s recent direction may have taken it off the trail-blazing path it once traveled

Raising calves on farms where whole milk is sold

Caption title.Digitized 2006 AES MoU.Includes bibliographical references

Plasma Testosterone Correlates with Morph Type Across Breeding Substages in Male White-Throated Sparrows

White-throated sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) exhibit a genetic polymorphism that affects plumage and behavior in both sexes. White-striped morphs are more territorially aggressive, whereas tan-striped morphs provision nestlings at a higher rate. We investigated testosterone physiology in this species in an effort to understand hormonal mechanisms for the observed differences in aggression and parental care between the morphs. We found a small but significant difference in plasma testosterone between free-living white-striped and tan-striped males over the course of the breeding season. This difference correlates with previously observed differences in aggressive behavior and suggests that testosterone may mediate these differences. Testosterone remained higher in white-striped males relative to tan-striped males when males were provisioning nestlings and fledglings. Thus, testosterone may also contribute to the relatively reduced levels of parental care exhibited by white-striped males. In contrast to males, plasma testosterone did not differ between free-living white-striped and tan-striped females, which suggests that testosterone does not mediate differences in aggression between female morphs. Injection with gonadotropin-releasing hormone led to greater testosterone secretion in both captive and free-living males and captive females but did not differ by morph. Therefore, we conclude that differences in plasma testosterone between the morphs are due to differences in testosterone regulation upstream of the pituitary

All About Maine : Print and Film Materials to Enrich the Study of Maine History in Grade Eight

All About Maine: Print and Film Materials to Enrich the Study of Maine History in Grade Eight. By Clyde W. Swett, Consultant Instructional Media, Department of Education and Mary L. Haskell, Librarian Union Street Junior High School, Bangor. Maine State Department of Education, Augusta, 1969. Contents under the following headings: Biography, Fiction, Films, Folklore, Literature, Maps, Miscellaneous, Natural History and Geology, Periodicals, Social and Political History, Directory of Publishers and Distributors, Index.https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/me_collection/1011/thumbnail.jp

Economic Analysis of Working Waterfronts in the United States

Waterfront communities in the United States, whether rural or urban, recreational or industrialized, have been subject to economic, technological, ecological, and demographic changes that challenge their continued existence or development. The purpose of this study is to document the current status, contribution to regional economies, and future prospects of U.S. coastal communities in order help promote their long‐term economic prosperity. A review of the relevant literature on economic valuation of waterfront and ocean‐related economic activities found that previous studies usually evaluated only one particular economic sector or specific region. The present study attempts to provide a comprehensive evaluation of all ocean‐related economic activity for all coastal regions of the United States

Some factors influencing the rate of growth and the size of dairy heifers at maturity

Digitized 2007 AES.Includes bibliographical references (page 56)

The minimum protein requirement for growing dairy hiefers

Publication authorized January 10, 1924.Digitized 2007 AES.Includes bibliographical references (pages 154-155)

Negative and positive childhood experiences across developmental periods in psychiatric patients with different diagnoses – an explorative study

BACKGROUND: A high frequency of childhood abuse has often been reported in adult psychiatric patients. The present survey explores the relationship between psychiatric diagnoses and positive and negative life events during childhood and adulthood in psychiatric samples. METHODS: A total of 192 patients with diagnoses of alcohol-related disorders (n = 45), schizophrenic disorders (n = 52), affective disorders (n = 54), and personality disorders (n = 41) completed a 42-item self-rating scale (Traumatic Antecedents Questionnaire, TAQ). The TAQ assesses personal positive experiences (competence and safety) and negative experiences (neglect, separation, secrets, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, trauma witnessing, other traumas, and alcohol and drugs abuse) during four developmental periods, beginning from early childhood to adulthood. Patients were recruited from four Psychiatric hospitals in Germany, Switzerland, and Romania; 63 subjects without any history of mental illness served as controls. RESULTS: The amount of positive experiences did not differ significantly among groups, except for safety scores that were lower in patients with personality disorders as compared to the other groups. On the other side, negative experiences appeared more frequently in patients than in controls. Emotional neglect and abuse were reported in patients more frequently than physical and sexual abuse, with negative experiences encountered more often in late childhood and adolescence than in early childhood. The patients with alcohol-related and personality disorders reported more negative events than the ones with schizophrenic and affective disorders. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings add evidence to the relationship between retrospectively reported childhood experiences and psychiatric diagnoses, and emphasize the fact that a) emotional neglect and abuse are the most prominent negative experiences, b) adolescence is a more 'sensitive' period for negative experiences as compared to early childhood, and c) a high amount of reported emotional and physical abuse occurs in patients with alcohol-related and personality disorders respectively