Later School Start Times in Adolescence: Time for a Change

This briefing paper summarizes the latest research on the subject of chronic sleep deprivation on education and health in adolescents, explores policy options to address this education and public health issue, and sets forth the recommendation that education start times be adjusted appropriately for U.S adolescents

Analysis of maritime support vessels and acquisition methods utilized to support maritime irregular warfare

MBA Professional ReportAs the U.S. military continuously aligns the appropriate platforms to conduct Maritime Irregular Warfare (MIW), Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has leased/chartered civilian ships to provide the appropriate vessels needed to support operations in Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines (OEF-P). The framework of this study showcases three specific vessels with their corresponding capabilities on cost per day basis. Our findings and analyses may aid commanders in determining the most appropriate vessel and cost-effective acquisition method to accomplish specific MIW missions in not only OEF-P, but also in other MIW environments. Based on the analysis and recommendations presented in this project, decision makers in this arena will have a mechanism from which to make a more informed decision regarding the acquisition of vessels supporting MIW. Decision makers will be able to evaluate various potential MIW scenarios; identify specific vessel capabilities to meet their operational requirements; and acquire vessels more cost-effectively based on total daily rate costs.http://archive.org/details/analysisofmariti109451051

Teaching Employment Skills to Carla within Inclusive Postsecondary Education

The purpose of this intervention-based case study is to provide an overview of an intervention aimed at improving employment skills for Carla, a 22-year-old female with intellectual disability enrolled in an inclusive postsecondary education program (IPSE). One specific aim of the IPSE is to prepare graduates for competitive integrated employment and inclusive community opportunities. Data has consistently indicated that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience poorer employment outcomes compared to their peers without disabilities (Lipscomb et al., 2017) and one barrier to employment for individuals with IDD include lack of soft skills. One intervention that has been developed to address improving soft-skills is UPGRADE Your Performance and includes multiple components (i.e., goal setting, self-evaluation, self-graphing, self-monitoring, & technology-aided instruction). A recent study was conducted with Carla and other young adults attending the same IPSE and who were working competitively in the community. This case study highlights the specific experience of one of the participants, Carla. This case study describes her unique needs, how modifications were identified to increase Carla’s response to the intervention, and what additional supports were provided to improve her progress towards her employment goals. Implications for future research and recommendation for current and future teachers are provided. In addition, questions have been posed for potential use in teacher preparation programs

Strategic Resource Allocation: Selecting Vessels to Support Maritime Irregular Warfare

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.5711/1082598318321The US Navy is at a critical juncture in determining the types and numbers of ships it will acquire, retire, and sustain to support an evolving US military strategy. In addition to determining how many aircraft carriers, cruisers, amphibious assault craft, fighters, and helicopters it will need, the Navy must determine how it will confront maritime irregular warfare. Assuming an environment of resource scarcity, where new vessel acquisition to support maritime irregular warfare may be increasingly difficult or unlikely, we introduce a method for evaluating the capability and costs of candidate vessels that are in the current Department of Defense inventory, or widely available from the commercial sector to conduct such a mission. Our method combines wargaming with cost analysis to aid Navy leadership in developing maritime irregular warfare concepts of operation as well as resource allocation decisions.RAND CorporationAcquisition Research ProgramRAND CorporationAcquisition Research Progra

Sediment resuspension and nepheloid layers induced by long internal solitary waves shoaling orthogonally on uniform slopes

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2013. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Continental Shelf Research 72 (2014): 21-33, doi:10.1016/j.csr.2013.10.019.Two-dimensional, nonlinear and nonhydrostatic field-scale numerical simulations are used to examine the resuspension, dispersal and transport of mud-like sediment caused by the shoaling and breaking of long internal solitary waves on uniform slopes. The patterns of erosion and transport are both examined, in a series of test cases with varying conditions. Shoreward sediment movement is mainly within boluses, while seaward movement is within intermediate nepheloid layers. Several relationships between properties of the suspended sediment and control parameters are determined such as the horizontal extent of the nehpeloid layers, the total mass of resuspended sediment and the point of maximum bed erosion. The numerical results provide a plausible explanation for acoustic backscatter patterns observed during and after the shoaling of internal solitary wavetrains in a natural coastal environment. The results may further help interpret sedimentary structures that may have been shaped by internal waves and add an another e ective mechanism for o shore dispersal of muddy sediments.This research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (D. Bourgault) and by the Spanish Research Project CGL2009-13254 (M. Morsilli)

Assessing Environmental Damage at Stream Crossings in El Yunque National Forest

In El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico, the Forest Service needs to build road networks with environmental sensitivity. The purpose of our project was to recommend a stream crossing structure that causes little damage to the local area. We molded a methodology for assessing stream health at crossings and used it to evaluate eleven watersheds in and around El Yunque. Our team assessed fifteen sites and comparatively analyzed the results with a pristine stream as a model. We concluded that stream health and crossing structures were not connected. For many analyzed watersheds, we recommend livestock barriers, replanting, trash removal and water extraction reduction. We hope that our study will contribute to the Forest Service\u27s mission of protecting the nation\u27s natural resources

Measurements of shoaling internal waves and turbulence in an estuary

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 118 (2013): 273–286, doi:10.1029/2012JC008154.The shoaling of horizontally propagating internal waves may represent an important source of mixing and transport in estuaries and coastal seas. Including such effects in numerical models demands improvements in the understanding of several aspects of the energetics, especially those relating to turbulence generation, and observations are needed to build this understanding. To address some of these issues in the estuarine context, we undertook an intensive field program for 10 days in the summer of 2008 in the St. Lawrence Estuary. The sampling involved shore-based photogrammetry, ship-based surveys, and an array of moorings in the shoaling region that held both conventional and turbulence-resolving sensors. The measurements shed light on many aspects of the wave shoaling process. Wave arrivals were generally phase-locked with the M2 tide, providing hints about far-field forcing. In the deeper part of the study domain, the waves propagated according to the predictions of linear theory. In intermediate-depth waters, the waves traversed the field site perpendicularly to isobaths, a pattern that continued as the waves transformed nonlinearly. Acoustic Doppler velocimeters permitted inference of the turbulent energetics, and two main features were studied. First, during a period of shoaling internal waves, turbulence dissipation rates exceeded values associated with tidal shear by an order of magnitude. Second, the evolving spectral signatures associated with a particular wave-shoaling event suggest that the turbulence is at least partly locally generated. Overall, the results of this study suggest that parameterizations of wave-induced mixing could employ relatively simple dynamics in deep water, but may have to handle a wide suite of turbulence generation and transport mechanisms in inshore regions.The work was supported by the Killam Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, and the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans.2013-07-3

Post impact evaluation of an E-learning cross-infection control CD-ROM provided to all general dental practitioners in England

Aim To carry out a post-impact evaluation of a cross-infection control CD-ROM, developed for NHS dental teams as a continuing professional development e-learning tool. The program was commissioned by the Department of Health and developed by a project team through the UK Committee of Postgraduate Dental Deans. The Dental Practice Boardhad originally sent one copy of the CD-ROM to each dental practice in England in 2004. Method A quantitative statistical analysis of the results of 326 online respondents to the learning package and a survey of 118 dental practitioners drawn from the Dental Practice Board database. Results Practitioners felt the CD-ROM in this instance was well designed and appropriate for their needs. It is inclusive and accessible to a wide range of dental professionals including nurses and hygienists. Conclusions This form of continuing professional development is popular with dental practitioners, although it should not be the only form of continuing professional development available. However, whilst the project was generally regarded as successful, there were problems with the distribution of the CD-ROM. This suggests that anonline resource should be made available in the future

A Pathogen Secreted Protein as a Detection Marker for Citrus Huanglongbing.

The citrus industry is facing an unprecedented crisis due to Huanglongbing (HLB, aka citrus greening disease), a bacterial disease associated with the pathogen Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) that affects all commercial varieties. Transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), CLas colonizes citrus phloem, leading to reduced yield and fruit quality, and eventually tree decline and death. Since adequate curative measures are not available, a key step in HLB management is to restrict the spread of the disease by identifying infected trees and removing them in a timely manner. However, uneven distribution of CLas cells in infected trees and the long latency for disease symptom development makes sampling of trees for CLas detection challenging. Here, we report that a CLas secreted protein can be used as a biomarker for detecting HLB infected citrus. Proteins secreted from CLas cells can presumably move along the phloem, beyond the site of ACP inoculation and CLas colonized plant cells, thereby increasing the chance of detecting infected trees. We generated a polyclonal antibody that effectively binds to the secreted protein and developed serological assays that can successfully detect CLas infection. This work demonstrates that antibody-based diagnosis using a CLas secreted protein as the detection marker for infected trees offers a high-throughput and economic approach that complements the approved quantitative polymerase chain reaction-based methods to enhance HLB management programs

Tidal Interaction in High Mass X-ray Binaries

Our aim is to investigate tidal interaction in High-Mass X-ray Binary stars in order to determine in which objects the rotation of the mass donors is synchronized or pseudosynchronized with the orbital motion of the compact companion. We calculate the pseudosynchronization period (P_ps) and compare it with the rotational period of the mass donors (P_rot). We find that (1) the Be/X-ray binaries are not synchronized, the mass donors rotate faster than the orbital period and the ratio P_ps/P_rot is 2-300; (2) the giant and supergiant systems are close to synchronization and for them the ratio P_ps/P_rot is 0.3-2.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, Accepted for publication in Astronomical Notes (AN