DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND

This research explores the wicked problem of improving diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) enterprise, and frames why a more representative and inclusive SOCOM remains an elusive goal. Exploration of civilian oversight policy guidance and perspectives, organizational and military D&I research, and interviews with command D&I planners revealed three key problems to overcome: talent pool paradigms, divergent stakeholder priorities, and persistent cultural challenges. Achieving a more diverse and inclusive SOCOM that is ready to meet the demands of strategic competition and integrated deterrence will require developing innovative recruitment solutions, a common D&I language among stakeholders, and dismantling outmoded cultural constructs.Major, United States ArmyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Influencing Prevention Policy Through Effective Communication with Advocates and Legislators

Despite being largely preventable, unintentional injuries are the leading cause of pediatric mortality in the state of South Carolina, USA. Deliberate policy is needed to encourage transformative change in preventing childhood injuries. However, injury prevention advocates across the state have yet to formalize a collective message to effectively engage policymakers regarding injury prevention issues. To address this concern, this study surveyed Safe Kids South Carolina child injury prevention advocates as well as state legislators and legislative staff with the goal of assessing and growing current knowledge of injury prevention and capacity to engage in legislative advocacy. One hundred seventy-four advocates and fifteen state legislators and legislative staff completed a survey of knowledge of injury prevention, perceptions on the importance of various injury prevention issues, organizational capacity to engage in advocacy activities, the impact of advocacy efforts, and legislative action taken as a result of injury prevention advocacy. In addition to the survey, structured interviews of legislators and staff were also conducted, and findings were compiled to inform advocacy and capacity-building activities for Safe Kids coalition members. Activities included a training session on effective advocacy techniques, child passenger safety laws, and legislative talking points for advocates to use during a structured advocacy event at the South Carolina statehouse.  From those activities, Safe Kids coalition members received pledges from policymakers to introduce or co-sponsor child passenger safety guidelines.&nbsp

Influencing Prevention Policy Through Effective Communication with Advocates and Legislators

Despite being largely preventable, unintentional injuries are the leading cause of pediatric mortality in the state of South Carolina, USA. Deliberate policy is needed to encourage transformative change in preventing childhood injuries. However, injury prevention advocates across the state have yet to formalize a collective message to effectively engage policymakers regarding injury prevention issues. To address this concern, this study surveyed Safe Kids South Carolina child injury prevention advocates as well as state legislators and legislative staff with the goal of assessing and growing current knowledge of injury prevention and capacity to engage in legislative advocacy. One hundred seventy-four advocates and fifteen state legislators and legislative staff completed a survey of knowledge of injury prevention, perceptions on the importance of various injury prevention issues, organizational capacity to engage in advocacy activities, the impact of advocacy efforts, and legislative action taken as a result of injury prevention advocacy. In addition to the survey, structured interviews of legislators and staff were also conducted, and findings were compiled to inform advocacy and capacity-building activities for Safe Kids coalition members. Activities included a training session on effective advocacy techniques, child passenger safety laws, and legislative talking points for advocates to use during a structured advocacy event at the South Carolina statehouse.  From those activities, Safe Kids coalition members received pledges from policymakers to introduce or co-sponsor child passenger safety guidelines.&nbsp

Revisiting the Reproductive Behaviors of Blackspotted Stickleback

Why Blackspotted Stickleback? How Behaviors Evolve Comparing closely related species can give insights into how behavior evolves. Well studied: Three-spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) Model organism for natural variation in behavioral evolution 1. Divergence in parental care in two ecotypes1,2. White and common ecotypes recently diverged 2. Lesser studied: Blackspotted Stickleback (Gasterosteus wheatlandi) Three-spined’s closest living relative. Possible behavioral intermediate of commons & whites. Blackspotted egg dispersal is similar to white three-spined 3

How to Quantify Female Mate Preference in Threespine Stickleback

Social behavior is diverse. For example, males from two stickleback ecotypes (whites and commons, Fig. 1) are highly divergent in courtship and parental care behavior [1]. Little is known about ecotypic differences in female behavior. In this study, we develop methods to quantify female preference in this system

Transcranial Electrical Stimulation targeting limbic cortex increases the duration of human deep sleep

Background: Researchers have proposed that impaired sleep may be a causal link in the progression from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Several recent findings suggest that enhancing deep sleep (N3) may improve neurological health in persons with MCI, and buffer the risk for AD. Specifically, Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (TES) of frontal brain areas, the inferred source of the Slow Oscillations (SOs) of N3 sleep, can extend N3 sleep duration and improve declarative memory for recently learned information. Recent work in our laboratory using dense array Electroencephalography (dEEG) localized the sources of SOs to anterior limbic sites – suggesting that targeting these sites with TES may be more effective for enhancing N3. Methods: For the present study, we recruited 13 healthy adults (M = 42 years) to participate in three all-night sleep EEG recordings where they received low level (0.5 mA) TES designed to target anterior limbic areas and a sham stimulation (placebo). We used a convolutional neural network, trained and tested on professionally scored EEG sleep staging, to predict sleep stages for each recording. Results: When compared to the sham session, limbic-targeted TES significantly increased the duration of N3 sleep. TES also significantly increased spectral power in the 0.5–1 Hz frequency band (relative to pre-TES epochs) in left temporoparietal and left occipital scalp regions compared to sham. Conclusion: These results suggest that even low-level TES, when specifically targeting anterior limbic sites, can increase deep (N3) sleep and thereby contribute to healthy sleep quality.Fil: Hathaway, Evan. Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory Company; Estados UnidosFil: Morgan, Kyle. Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory Company; Estados UnidosFil: Carson, Megan. Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory Company; Estados UnidosFil: Shusterman, Roma. Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory Company; Estados UnidosFil: Fernandez Corazza, Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Electrónica, Control y Procesamiento de Señales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Electrónica, Control y Procesamiento de Señales; ArgentinaFil: Luu, Phan. University of Oregon; Estados UnidosFil: Tucker, Don M.. University of Oregon; Estados Unido

Introducing best practice for reproducibility in government

There is an appetite to improve the reproducibility of quantitative analysis undertaken across government. Our team supports conversion of regular publications into Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP). To achieve this, we developed a roadmap to work with analysts in our organisation and help them transform their pipelines and build their skills. An audit of the current RAP status of all regular pipelines assisted in resource allocation and planning. The maturity of a RAP is evaluated on 7 criteria required to reach a minimum viable product (MVP) and 7 additional advanced criteria as outlined by the Analysis Function (AF). We use a combination of hands-on pair-coding with analysis teams, regular and ad hoc code reviews, and training sessions to convert existing pipelines into RAPs, while simultaneously upskilling the analysts. We have also developed guidance and training documentation to share internally and externally. Currently, out of 73 regular publications, 12 have reached the MVP, with an average score of 4.36 out of 7. This scoring is reassessed monthly, allowing us to track the progress in real-time. Self-assessment of technical skills increased by between 43% and 89% and 97% said their understanding of RAP principals improved because of the training and 77% said they are now able to implement best practice into their work. By working with the pipeline owners instead of just refactoring the code directly, we are ensuring business resilience. The in-depth knowledge of the pipeline and skills required to maintain it are present within the analysis team. Publishing our methods, documentation and tools facilitates adoption of RAP for those without a dedicated RAP team. We are on track to convert all our regular publications into RAPs and move to “RAP by default”, in line with the AF RAP Strategy. This will improve the reproducibility, quality, efficiency, transparency, and trustworthiness of analysis within government. We hope other organisations can learn from our methods

Social innovation in diagnostics: three case studies.

BACKGROUND: Diagnostics are essential for identifying and controlling diseases. However, limited access to diagnostics hinders public health efforts in many settings. Social innovation may provide a framework for expanding access to diagnostics in the global south. Here social innovation is defined as implementing a known public health tool via a novel, community-driven technique. MAIN BODY: In this article, we discuss three diverse cases that show the potential for using social innovation in diagnostics. The cases chosen for inclusion here demonstrate the importance of social innovation in diagnostics across different geographic, cultural, and health system contexts. They include malaria testing via schools in Malawi, cervical human papillomavirus (HPV) sample self-collection in Peru, and crowdsourcing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing in China. For each case, we present the public health problem and the impact of using social innovation to increase accessibility of diagnostics. We discuss implications of each diagnostic approach and the importance of social innovation in creating these potential solutions. We argue that social innovation is useful in improving the delivery of essential diagnostic tools in low- and middle-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions in Malawi, Peru, and China suggest social innovation increases uptake of diagnostics. The same tools and principles utilized in these cases can be adapted for use in other contexts. Such diagnostic innovations may help improve identification of and linkage to care for many diseases. The approach presents a unique opportunity to better address public health issues and increase accessibility in LMIC health systems

Focal limbic sources create the large slow oscillations of the EEG in human deep sleep

Background: Initial observations with the human electroencephalogram (EEG) have interpreted slow oscillations (SOs) of the EEG during deep sleep (N3) as reflecting widespread surface-negative traveling waves that originate in frontal regions and propagate across the neocortex. However, mapping SOs with a high-density array shows the simultaneous appearance of posterior positive voltage fields in the EEG at the time of the frontal-negative fields, with the typical inversion point (apparent source) around the temporal lobe. Methods: Overnight 256-channel EEG recordings were gathered from 10 healthy young adults. Individual head conductivity models were created using each participant's own structural MRI. Source localization of SOs during N3 was then performed. Results: Electrical source localization models confirmed that these large waves were created by focal discharges within the ventral limbic cortex, including medial temporal and caudal orbitofrontal cortex. Conclusions: Although the functional neurophysiology of deep sleep involves interactions between limbic and neocortical networks, the large EEG deflections of deep sleep are not created by distributed traveling waves in lateral neocortex but instead by relatively focal limbic discharges.Fil: Morgan, Kyle K.. Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory Company; Estados UnidosFil: Hathaway, Evan. Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory Company; Estados UnidosFil: Carson, Megan. Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory Company; Estados UnidosFil: Fernandez Corazza, Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Electrónica, Control y Procesamiento de Señales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Electrónica, Control y Procesamiento de Señales; ArgentinaFil: Shusterman, Roma. Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory Company; Estados UnidosFil: Luu, Phan. Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory Company; Estados Unidos. University of Oregon; Estados UnidosFil: Tucker, Don M.. University of Oregon; Estados Unidos. Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory Company; Estados Unido