Technology Transfer: A Qualitative Analysis of Air Force Office of Research and Technology Applications

Everyday within United States Air Forces’ research laboratories there are hundreds of scientists and engineers whose research and development activities contribute to the advancement of science and technology for mankind. The opportunities for successful technology transfer within these research activities are unbounded. This thesis examines the Air Force Office of Research and Technology Applications (ORTA’s) involvement with technology transfer, the complexities they face, the importance of their position, and what best practices ORTAs use to facilitate technology transfer. Air Force concerns and initiatives are detailed to provide perspective on balancing technology transfer with mission requirements and adherence to United States law. Legislative requirements mandate laboratories to transfer federally developed technologies to the commercial sector. Research indicates that several Air Force organizations routinely experience successful technology transfer more frequently than other Air Force organizations. The literature review indicates that historically, technology transfer from DoD has been predominantly passive. However, over the last three years with the involvement of partnership intermediaries, a more active trend has been indicated. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted with key personnel from Air Force ORTA’s to identify successful technology transfer attributes and best practices throughout the Air Force, and capture them in a central repository for all Air Force personnel to access. Recommendations offered to help technology transfer in Air Force laboratories include: (1) development of a more thorough training program conducted on a bi-annual basis for the scientific and engineering community, and (2) encouragement of senior management to emphasize and actively promote an organizational atmosphere that pursues technology transfer opportunities. Senior management should also hold personnel accountable for failure to facilitate technology transfer because of their lack of effort, bureaucratic posturing, or ignorance of the process. The culmination of this study was the development of a technology transfer “best practices” central repository for ORTA’s to access and share with personnel within their organizations

Wind-tunnel tests on a 3-dimensional fixed-geometry scramjet inlet at M = 2.30 to 4.60

Wind-tunnel tests were conducted on a baseline scramjet inlet model having fixed geometry and swept leading edges at M = 2.30, 2.96, 3.95, and 4.60 in the Langley unitary plan wind tunnel. The unit Reynolds number of the tests was held constant at 6.56 million per meter (2 million per foot). The objectives of the tests were to establish inlet performance and starting characteristics in the lower Mach number range of operation (less than M = 5). Surface pressures obtained on the inlet components are presented, along with the results of the internal flow surveys made at the throat and capture stations of the inlet. Contour plots of the inlet-flow-field parameters such as Mach numbers, pressure recovery, flow capture, local static and total pressure ratios at the survey stations are shown for the test Mach numbers

Assessing the net effect of anthropogenic disturbance on aquatic communities in wetlands: community structure relative to distance from canals

Anthropogenic alterations of natural hydrology are common in wetlands and often increase water permanence, converting ephemeral habitats into permanent ones. Since aquatic organisms segregate strongly along hydroperiod gradients, added water permanence caused by canals can dramatically change the structure of aquatic communities. We examined the impact of canals on the abundance and structure of wetland communities in South Florida, USA. We sampled fishes and macroinvertebrates from marsh transects originating at canals in the central and southern Everglades. Density of all aquatic organisms sampled increased in the immediate proximity of canals, but was accompanied by few compositional changes based on analysis of relative abundance. Large fish (\u3e8 cm), small fish (\u3c8 \u3ecm) and macroinvertebrates (\u3e5 mm) increased in density within 5 m of canals. This pattern was most pronounced in the dry season, suggesting that canals may serve as dry-down refugia. Increases in aquatic animal density closely matched gradients of phosphorus enrichment that decreased with distance from canals. Thus, the most apparent impact of canals on adjacent marsh communities was as conduits for nutrients that stimulated local productivity; any impact of their role as sources of increased sources of predators was not apparent. The effect of predation close to canals was overcompensated by increased secondary productivity and/or immigration toward areas adjacent to canals in the dry season. Alternatively, the consumptive effect of predatory fishes using canals as dry-season refuges is very small or spread over the expanse of marshes with open access to canals

A Suite of Prey Traits Determine Predator and Nutrient Enrichment Effects in a Tri-Trophic Food Chain

Predation, predation risk, and resource quality affect suites of prey traits that collectively impact individual fitness, population dynamics, and community structure. However, studies of multi-trophic level effects generally focus on a single prey trait, failing to capture trade-offs among suites of covarying traits that govern population responses and emergent community patterns. We used structural equation models (SEM) to summarize the non-lethal and lethal effects of crayfish, Procambarus fallax, and phosphorus (P) addition, which affected prey food quality (periphyton), on the interactive effects of behavioral, morphological, developmental, and reproductive traits of snails, Planorbella duryi. Univariate and multivariate analyses suggested trade-offs between production (growth, reproduction) and defense (foraging behavior, shell shape) traits of snails in response to non-lethal crayfish and P addition, but few lethal effects. SEM revealed that non-lethal crayfish effects indirectly limited per capita offspring standing stock by increasing refuge use, slowing individual growth, and inducing snails to produce thicker, compressed shells. The negative effects of non-lethal crayfish on snails were strongest with P addition; snails increased allocation to shell defense rather than growth or reproduction. However, compared to ambient conditions, P addition with non-lethal crayfish still yielded greater per capita offspring standing stock by speeding individual snail growth enabling them to produce more offspring that also grew faster. Increased refuge use in response to non-lethal crayfish led to a non-lethal trophic cascade that altered the spatial distribution of periphyton. Independent of crayfish effects, snails stimulated periphyton growth through nutrient regeneration. These findings illustrate the importance of studying suites of traits that reveal costs associated with inducing different traits and how expressing those traits impacts population and community level processes

When is an herbivore not an herbivore? Detritivory facilitates herbivory in a freshwater system

Herbivory is thought to be an inefficient diet, but it independently evolved from carnivorous ancestors in many metazoan groups, suggesting that plant‐eating is adaptive in some circumstances. In this study, we tested two hypotheses to explain the adaptive evolution of herbivory: (i) the Heterotroph Facilitation hypothesis (herbivory is adaptive because herbivores supplement their diets with heterotrophic microbes); and (ii) the Lipid Allocation hypothesis (herbivory is adaptive because algae, which have high lipid concentrations, are nutritionally similar to carnivory). We tested these hypotheses using enclosure cages placed in the Everglades and stocked with Sailfin Mollies (Poecilia latipinna), a native herbivore. Using shading and phosphorus addition (P), we manipulated the heterotrophic microbe and lipid composition of colonizing epiphyton and examined the effects of varying food quality on Sailfin Molly life history. Epiphyton grown in “shade only” conditions had a 55% increase in bacterial fatty acids and 34% lower ratios of saturated + monounsaturated to polyunsaturated fatty acids relative to the other treatments. Ratio of autotroph to heterotroph biovolume varied throughout the experiment, with a 697% increase at 3 weeks and 98% decrease at 6 weeks compared to the other treatments. Gut contents revealed that fish fed selectively on epiphyton to compensate for apparent deficiencies in the available food. Fish raised in “shade only” cages experienced the highest survival, which was best explained by autotrophic biovolume and algal‐ and bacterial‐derived fatty acids at 3 weeks (2–6× more likely than alternative models with ∆AICc \u3e 2.00), and by percentage of bacterial fatty acids in the diet at 6 weeks (3–8× more likely than alternative models with ∆AICc \u3e 2.00). There were no differences in fish growth among treatments. Autotrophic lipids play a role in early fish life history, but we did not find these to be the best predictors of life history later in the juvenile period. Instead, heterotrophic lipids facilitated the herbivorous diet and enhanced survival of juvenile fish in our experiment. Bacterial fatty acid content of the diet promoted herbivore survival, consistent with the Heterotroph Facilitation hypothesis. This is the first study to explicitly contrast Heterotrophic Facilitation and Lipid Allocation hypotheses for the adaptive evolution of herbivory in an aquatic system

La manipulation des images par les femmes : à propos des Vierges miraculeuses de Marlène Albert Llorca

À propos du livre récent de Marlène Albert Llorca, Les Vierges miraculeuses, l’auteur survole rapidement les conclusions de recherches récentes sur l’image religieuse dans l’Europe traditionnelle. Il examine les manières dont les dévots convertissent des images en objets cultuels en les associant à des laïcs importants et aux sanctuaires qui les accueillent. Il commente les conclusions d’Albert Llorca selon lesquelles ces images, vêtues pour la circonstance, peuvent servir à répliquer le “miracle” originel pour les dévots qui manipulent ces vêtements ; ainsi se rejouent les événements miraculeux censés être à l’origine du charisme de l’image. C’est donc l’imaginaire de la communauté, incarné dans les “cameraras” qui habillent l’image, qui dote celle-ci de pouvoirs miraculeux.Inspired by the recent book of M. Albert-Llorca, the author presents a rapid overview of some of the findings behind recent studies of the traditional European religious image. He examines the process by which devotees convert images into cult objects through their association with powerful lay figures and with the important churches that receive them. He comments upon M. Albert-Llorca’s findings that such church images, suitably attired, can serve to replicate for devotees the original “miracle” of the image by manipulation of the image’s veil. And he elaborates as well on M. A. L.’s finding that at least modern devotees re-stage the “miraculous” events said to lie at the origins of the image’s charisma. Clearly, no image is in fact miraculous, it is the imagination of the community, embodied in the “cameraras” who dress it, that endows it with wonder

Signal from the noise: model‐based interpretation of variable correspondence between active and passive samplers

Combining information from active and passive sampling of mobile animals is challenging because active‐sampling data are affected by limited detection of rare or sparse taxa, while passive‐sampling data reflect both density and movement. We propose that a model‐based analysis allows information to be combined between these methods to interpret variation in the relationship between active estimates of density and passive measurements of catch per unit effort to yield novel information on activity rates (distance/time). We illustrate where discrepancies arise between active and passive methods and demonstrate the model‐based approach with seasonal surveys of fish assemblages in the Florida Everglades, where data are derived from concurrent sampling with throw traps, an enclosure‐type sampler producing point estimates of density, and drift fences with unbaited minnow traps that measure catch per unit effort (CPUE). We compared incidence patterns generated by active and passive sampling, used hierarchical Bayesian modeling to quantify the detection ability of each method, characterized interspecific and seasonal variation in the relationship between density and passively measured CPUE, and used a predator encounter‐rate model to convert variable CPUE–density relationships into ecological information on activity rates. Activity rate information was used to compare interspecific responses to seasonal hydrology and to quantify spatial variation in non‐native fish activity. Drift fences had higher detection probabilities for rare and sparse species than throw traps, causing discrepancies in the estimated spatial distribution of non‐native species from passively measured CPUE and actively measured density. Detection probability of the passive sampler, but not the active sampler, varied seasonally with changes in water depth. The relationship between CPUE and density was sensitive to fluctuating depth, with most species not having a proportional relationship between CPUE and density until seasonal declines in depth. Activity rate estimates revealed interspecific differences in response to declining depths and identified locations and species with high rates of activity. We propose that variation in catchability from methods that passively measure CPUE can be sources of ecological information on activity. We also suggest that model‐based combining of data types could be a productive approach for analyzing correspondence of incidence and abundance patterns in other applications