FACTORS THAT AFFECT U.S. MILITARY ACCESS IN INDONESIA

U.S. strategy to counter China in the Indo-Pacific requires military access to key defense partners in the region. Access in the region varies widely, and creates challenges for U.S. naval forces to conduct expeditionary advanced base operations (EABO). This thesis identifies the major factors causing variations in U.S. access to defense partners in the Indo-Pacific, and describes what levels of access the U.S. experiences in Indonesia. This thesis dissects military access into different types: maneuver and logistical. It examines each access type through comparative case studies with Japan, the Philippines, and Singapore. It then tests three factors that drive access in a U.S. defense partner by exploring shared security interests with the U.S., domestic politics, and institutionalized interactions. The cases show that all three factors generally help build and maintain U.S. access. However, great power entanglement fears skew Indonesia’s threat perceptions, anti-American minority groups heavily influence domestic politics, and Indonesia has relatively weak bilateral defense institutions with the U.S. The effects of these factors cause Indonesia to only provide a medium level of maneuver access through limited-duration exercises, and a low level of logistical access through contracting agreements. INDOPACOM should focus on enhancing bilateral exercises to include the use of newly developed U.S. Marine Corps units specifically designed for conducting EABO in the region.Major, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Perfect codes in the Lee and Chebyshev metrics and iterating Rédei functions

Orientadores: Sueli Irene Rodrigues Costa, Daniel Nelson Panario RodriguezTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Matemática Estatística e Computação CientíficaResumo: O conteúdo desta tese insere-se dentro de duas áreas de pesquisa muito ativas: a teoria de códigos corretores de erros e sistemas dinâmicos sobre corpos finitos. Para abordar problemas em ambos os tópicos introduzimos um tipo de sequência finita que chamamos v-séries. No conjunto destas definimos uma métrica que induz uma estrutura de poset usada no estudo das possíveis estruturas de grupo abeliano representadas por códigos perfeitos na métrica de Chebyshev. Por outro lado, cada v-série é associada a uma árvore com raiz, a qual terá um papel importante em resultados relacionados à estrutura dinâmica de iterações de funções de Rédei. Na teoria de códigos corretores de erros, estudamos códigos perfeitos na métrica de Lee e na métrica de Chebyshev (correspondentes à métrica lp para p=1 e p=infinito respetivamente). Os principais resultados aqui estão relacionados com a descrição dos códigos q-ários n-dimensionais com raio de empacotamento e que sejam perfeitos nestas métricas, a obtenção de suas matrizes geradoras e a classificação destes, a menos de isometrias e a menos de isomorfismos. Varias construções de códigos perfeitos e famílias interessantes destes códigos com respeito à métrica de Chebyshev são apresentadas. Em sistemas dinâmicos sobre corpos finitos centramos nossa atenção em iterações de funções de Rédei, sendo o principal resultado um teorema estrutural para estas funções, o qual permite estender vários resultados sobre funções de Rédei. Este teorema pode também ser aplicado para outras classes de funções permitindo obter provas alternativas mais simples de alguns resultados conhecidos como o número de componentes conexas, o número de pontos periódicos e o valor esperado para o período e preperíodo da aplicação exponencial sobre corpos finitosAbstract: The content of this thesis is inserted in two very active research areas: the theory of error correcting codes and dynamical systems over finite fields. To approach problems in both topics we introduce a type of finite sequence called v-series. A metric is introduced in the set of such sequences inducing a poset structure used to determine all possible abelian group structures represented by perfect codes in the Chebyshev metric. Moreover, each v-serie is associated with a rooted tree, which has an important role in results related to the cycle structure of iterating Rédei functions. Regarding the theory of error correcting codes, we study perfect codes in the Lee metric and Chebyshev metric (corresponding to the lp metric for p=1 and p=infinity, respectively). The main results here are related to the description of n-dimensional q-ary codes with packing radius e which are perfect in these metrics, obtaining their generator matrices and their classification up to isometry and up to isomorphism. Several constructions of perfect codes in the Chebyshev metric are given and interesting families of such codes are presented. Regarding dynamical system over finite fields we focus on iterating Rédei functions, where our main result is a structural theorem, which allows us to extend several results on Rédei functions. The above theorem can also be applied to other maps, allowing simpler proofs of some known results related to the number of components, the number of periodic points and the expected value for the period and preperiod for iterating exponentiations over finite fieldsDoutoradoMatematica AplicadaDoutor em Matemática Aplicada2012/10600-2FAPESPCAPE

Testing the Feasibility of a Passive and Active Case Ascertainment System for Multiple Rare Conditions Simultaneously: The Experience in Three US States

Background: Owing to their low prevalence, single rare conditions are difficult to monitor through current state passive and active case ascertainment systems. However, such monitoring is important because, as a group, rare conditions have great impact on the health of affected individuals and the well-being of their caregivers. A viable approach could be to conduct passive and active case ascertainment of several rare conditions simultaneously. This is a report about the feasibility of such an approach. Objective: To test the feasibility of a case ascertainment system with passive and active components aimed at monitoring 3 rare conditions simultaneously in 3 states of the United States (Colorado, Kansas, and South Carolina). The 3 conditions are spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, and fragile X syndrome. Methods: Teams from each state evaluated the possibility of using current or modified versions of their local passive and active case ascertainment systems and datasets to monitor the 3 conditions. Together, these teams established the case definitions and selected the variables and the abstraction tools for the active case ascertainment approach. After testing the ability of their local passive and active case ascertainment system to capture all 3 conditions, the next steps were to report the number of cases detected actively and passively for each condition, to list the local barriers against the combined passive and active case ascertainment system, and to describe the experiences in trying to overcome these barriers. Results: During the test period, the team from South Carolina was able to collect data on all 3 conditions simultaneously for all ages. The Colorado team was also able to collect data on all 3 conditions but, because of age restrictions in its passive and active case ascertainment system, it was able to report few cases of fragile X syndrome. The team from Kansas was able to collect data only on spina bifida. For all states, the implementation of an active component of the ascertainment system was problematic. The passive component appears viable with minor modifications. Conclusions: Despite evident barriers, the joint passive and active case ascertainment of rare disorders using modified existing surveillance systems and datasets seems feasible, especially for systems that rely on passive case ascertainment

Bridges: Structures and Materials, Ancient and Modern

Every nation needs the infrastructure to perform all kind of activities related to the improvement and service of the society. Transportation system became part of the infrastructure due its connection between two destinations, using maritime, land, or aerial methods, creating a link for social and economic activity. Bridges are widely used to cross rivers, valleys, and roads, providing a passage with other parts of the land since ancient times to modernity. Each structure has different requirements to cover, such span clearage, traffic flow, geometry and characteristics of the place to build; therefore, a great variety of bridges can be developed. Common materials used on construction are structural steel, reinforced concrete, pre-stressed concrete, or post-tensioned concrete; depending on the structural behavior of each type of bridge, there will be a maximum clear span to cover, which depends directly on the project’s budget. There are a variety of loads and environmental conditions that the new and existing structure needs to support effectively, including dead load, traffic, rain, wind, flood, and seismic events, using effective structural design process and techniques; on the other hand, there are long-term deterioration process, such as corrosion, wear, and fatigue, which should be considered on the maintenance process, avoiding additional costs, several damages, and catastrophic failures. Prevention and control of degradation process is achieved by effective maintenance methods applying protection technology such as paints, coating and cathodic protection. The purpose of this chapter is to show a brief review of ancient and modern bridges, including the process of design, material selection, construction, and maintenance

Compressive Sensing with Wigner DD-functions on Subsets of the Sphere

In this paper, we prove a compressive sensing guarantee for restricted measurement domains on the rotation group, $\mathrm{SO}(3)$. We do so by first defining Slepian functions on a measurement sub-domain $R$ of the rotation group $\mathrm{SO}(3)$. Then, we transform the inverse problem from the measurement basis, the bounded orthonormal system of band-limited Wigner $D$-functions on $\mathrm{SO}(3)$, to the Slepian functions in a way that limits increases to signal sparsity. Contrasting methods using Wigner $D$-functions that require measurements on all of $\mathrm{SO}(3)$, we show that the orthogonality structure of the Slepian functions only requires measurements on the sub-domain $R$, which is select-able. Due to the particulars of this approach and the inherent presence of Slepian functions with low concentrations on $R$, our approach gives the highest accuracy when the signal under study is well concentrated on $R$. We provide numerical examples of our method in comparison with other classical and compressive sensing approaches. In terms of reconstruction quality, we find that our method outperforms the other compressive sensing approaches we test and is at least as good as classical approaches but with a significant reduction in the number of measurements

Common fare: an example of “blanket” rates in Hawai’i waterborne trade

Blanket” rate structures apply uniform rates to a geographical region in spite of differences in the costs of carrying the goods. They are generally utilized by carriers to achieve some strategic objective, whether rate simplification, to be more competitive, or to meet some political objectives. While blanket rates are common in land transportation, the Hawai’i waterborne trade offers a unique example of this pricing mechanism. Further, given new and potential competitive factors in this trade, this is a unique case study for those interested in transportation pricing and the economic impacts of changes in the competitive struct ure in an isolated market