Comparison of Georgia's Tobacco and Alcoholic Beverage Excise Tax Rates - Brief

This brief provides a detailed comparison of excise tax rates across the United States. FRC Brief 19

Labeling Paths with Convolutional Neural Networks

With the increasing development of autonomous vehicles, being able to detect driveable paths in arbitrary environments has become a prevalent problem in multiple industries. This project explores a technique which utilizes a discretized output map that is used to color an image based on the confidence that each block is a driveable path. This was done using a generalized convolutional neural network that was trained on a set of 3000 images taken from the perspective of a robot along with matching masks marking which portion of the image was a driveable path. The techniques used allowed for a labeling accuracy of over 95%

Upconversion : making the invisible - visible for efficient silicon solar cells

Upconversion (UC) for photovoltaics (PV) aims to mitigate the intrinsic losses associated with the transmission of sub-band gap photons. The potential enhancement of a PV device via a coupled UC layer has not been realised experimentally due to the weak absorption coefficient of ~6 cm-1 at 1523 nm across a narrow bandwidth (100 nm) and non-linear nature of the active UC erbium ion (Er3+). These limiting properties have resulted in the characterisation of the UC layer conducted with high power monochromatic lasers at the strongest resonant wavelength which is dissimilar to that of the solar spectrum. Herein, a novel method is developed to determine the photoluminescent quantum yield (iPLQY) of an UC layer under broadband excitation through the correct determination of the absorption spectrum unaffected by re-emission. This method is used to evaluate the iPLQY of the UC material under increasing bandwidths of excitation where saturation is seen for bandwidths greater than 60 nm, significantly shorter than the 100 nm absorption spectrum. Although an iPLQY of 16.2% was achieved, with the normalisation to the solar spectrum this equates to a solar concentration beyond what is attainable on Earth. Therefore, advanced photon management techniques are necessary to realise a working device. An in-depth investigation is conducted on the optimisation of an UC material across a wide range of solar concentrations and doping of the active UC ion which indicates β-NaYF4: 25% Er3+to be the most suitable for a coupled PV device

Recruiting the cyber leader: an evaluation of the human resource model used for recruiting the Army’s "Cyber Operations Officer"

Includes supplementary materialFor the first time since the creation of the Special Forces branch in 1987, the Army authorized the creation of a new branch, the Cyber branch. With this, the Army joined the ranks of other organizations in this rapidly expanding arena. The Army found itself in a situation where it needed to quickly fill the positions required of this new branch. To accomplish this goal the Army developed a recruitment strategy based on the Army human resource management model. The purpose of our research is to evaluate the effectiveness of that model to recruit Cyber Operations Officers and to examine the effects of its continued use. To perform this evaluation we conduct an operational assessment that included identifying and assessing measures of performance (MOPs) and measures of effectiveness (MOEs) based on data collected from: Army institutions; a survey of the Cyber Branch population; and the Person-Event Data Environment database. Our research also examined recruitment strategies and practices in other selected organizations to identify practical recommendations for improvements to current Army practices. The results of this research suggest that while the Army was generally successful in accomplishing the identified tasks of its recruitment strategy, there were inconsistencies in its application. Additionally, through analysis of the survey data we were able to identify attributes that had the most impact on achieving desired effects. Finally, we found that the Army did not recruit in accordance with best practices for the cyber workforce and that it did not use available tools to measure aptitude in its recruitment and the selection process. We identify some practical implications and provide recommendations for further research in this fast-paced operational environment.http://archive.org/details/recruitingcyberl1094556161Major, United States ArmyMajor, United States ArmyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Visual estimation of ACL injury risk: Efficient assessment method, group differences, and expertise mechanisms

Simple observational assessment of movement quality (e.g., drop vertical jump biomechanics) is an efficient and low cost method for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury screening and prevention. A recently developed test (see www.ACL-IQ.org) has revealed substantial cross-professional/group differences in visual ACL injury risk estimation skill. Specifically, parents, sport coaches, and to some degree sports medicine physicians, would likely benefit from training or the use of decision support tools. In addition, expertise mechanisms (perceptual-cognitive characteristics of skilled performers) were investigated in order to design training systems to improve risk estimation performance

“The Biggest Problem With You…”: Racial Profiling and Canada’s Program of Extra-Territorial Migrant Interdiction

On April 3, 2019, Andrea and Attila Kiss tried to board an Air Canada Rouge flight from Budapest to Toronto. Andrea’s sister was ailing, and the couple planned to visit Canada for two months to support her family. Their travel was legitimate and lawful. Their documents were in order. But when they lined up to check in, Andrea made a mental note of a fact that was about to become relevant: as members of the Hungarian Roma community, they were the only racialized people in line. Andrea and Attila did not reach the check-in counter. They were stopped and pulled out of line by a private security guard. They were questioned, their documents were photographed, and—minutes later—a Canadian immigration official forbade the airline from allowing them aboard the plane. And so, the only racialized people in line trying to get to Canada were profiled, turned around, and sent home without even a ticket refund. Later, they found out the official reason for their deboarding: Canada thought that there were enough “indicators” to conclude that they were not planning on staying temporarily, but permanently. How did this work legally? Exploring that question is this paper\u27s purpose. We show how a little examined tool—the Electronic Travel Authorization—enables the overseas screening of travellers to Canada. Using evidence unearthed in litigation, we show how this tool is used to racially profile travellers and trace the origins of the program. Then, we ask a simple question, is any of this legal

Conservative Management of Median Nerve Brachial Plexopathy after Microwave-based MiraDry Treatment for Axillary Hyperhidrosis

Axillary hyperhidrosis is characterized by excessive sweating of the armpits, which can significantly affect quality of life. A new microwave-based therapy, MiraDry (Miramar labs, Sunnyvale, Calif.), is a promising minimally-invasive treatment option. We report a case of unilateral brachial plexus thermal injury in a thin 19-year-old man treated for axillary hyperhidrosis with the MiraDry system. He initially experienced swelling and pain in the left hand and was prescribed 1 week of methylprednisolone. He then presented 1 week later with induration and swelling of bilateral axillae with swelling of left thumb, left index, and left long fingers, decreased sensation in median nerve distribution of the left hand, and the inability to flex the left index finger DIP joint. EMG showed absent median nerve motor and sensory function, consistent with median nerve plexopathy. He was conservatively managed with close observation and regular occupational hand therapy appointments. At his 12-month follow-up, there was complete return of left pronator teres strength, thumb flexion, and index finger flexion. Decreased sensation remained at the tip of the left index finger. We report the case of median nerve palsy after MiraDry therapy for axillary hyperhidrosis in a thin young man. We recommend using low-energy settings and pre-procedural ultrasound for young, thin patients because of the more superficial course of the brachial plexus within the axilla

First evidence of cryptotephra in palaeoenvironmental records associated with Norse occupation sites in Greenland

The Norse/Viking occupation of Greenland is part of a dispersal of communities across the North Atlantic coincident with the supposed Medieval Warm Period of the late 1st millennium AD. The abandonment of the Greenland settlements has been linked to climatic deterioration in the Little Ice Age as well as other possible explanations. There are significant dating uncertainties over the time of European abandonment of Greenland and the potential influence of climatic deterioration. Dating issues largely revolve around radiocarbon chronologies for Norse settlements and associated mire sequences close to settlement sites. Here we show the potential for moving this situation forward by a combination of palynological, radiocarbon and cryptotephra analyses of environmental records close to three ‘iconic’ Norse sites in the former Eastern Settlement of Greenland – Herjolfsnes, Hvalsey and Garðar (the modern Igaliku). While much work remains to be undertaken, our results show that palynological evidence can provide a useful marker for both the onset and end of Norse occupation in the region, while the radiocarbon chronologies for these sequences remain difficult. Significantly, we here demonstrate the potential for cryptotephra to become a useful tool in resolving the chronology of Norse occupation, when coupled with palynology. For the first time, we show that cryptotephra are present within palaeoenvironmental sequences located within or close to Norse settlement ruin-groups, with tephra horizons detected at all three sites. While shard concentrations were small at Herjolfsnes, concentrations sufficient for geochemical analyses were detected at Igaliku and Hvalsey. WDS-EPMA analyses of these tephra indicate that, unlike the predominantly Icelandic tephra sources reported in the Greenland ice core records, the tephra associated with the Norse sites correlate more closely with volcanic centres in the Aleutians and Cascades. Recent investigations of cryptotephra dispersal from North American centres, along with our new findings, point to the potential for cryptotephra to facilitate hypothesis testing, providing a key chronological tool for refining the timing of Norse activities in Greenland (e.g. abandonment) and of environmental contexts and drivers (e.g. climate forcing)