Across Racial Lines: Three Accounts of Transforming Urban Institutions after a Natural Disaster

At 1:30 p.m. on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina grazed the mostly evacuated city of New Orleans, reserving its most devastating force for coastal Mississippi, just to the east. During the next two days, the federal levees protecting the city failed in multiple places. Sixteen hundred people died in the metropolitan area. Residences and businesses in 80 percent of the city went underwater. Public officials warned residents and business owners that they might not be able to return for two to three months. The scope of devastation in certain parts of the city made ever returning questionable for many residents. Grievous failures of coordination among local, state, and federal governments exacerbated the collective misery, adding general confusion and uncertainty about the city’s very future to deep personal anxieties about homes, jobs, schools, and neighborhoods. What follows are accounts of the post-Katrina transformation of New Orleans by three of its leaders. None had met before these events but became trusted allies and later friends in the crucible of the events they describe. James Carter recounts the creation of an office of independent police monitor to address a longstanding history of racial bias and brutality. Nolan Rollins offers an account of how the governance of a major economic organization was transformed for the benefit of the whole city. And Gregory Rusovich explains the role of diverse, action-oriented coalitions in addressing a range of key issues, including criminal justice reforms and holding elected officials accountable for campaign promises

Laparoscopic drainage of an intramural duodenal haematoma: a novel technique and review of the literature

Intramural Duodenal Haematoma (IDH) is an uncommon complication of blunt abdominal trauma. IDH's are most often treated non-operatively. We describe laparoscopic treatment of an IDH after failed conservative management. To our knowledge, successful laparoscopic drainage of an IDH in an adult has not been described previously in the literature

Diagnosis and Prognosis of Weapon Systems

The Prognostics Framework is a set of software tools with an open architecture that affords a capability to integrate various prognostic software mechanisms and to provide information for operational and battlefield decision-making and logistical planning pertaining to weapon systems. The Prognostics NASA Tech Briefs, February 2005 17 Framework is also a system-level health -management software system that (1) receives data from performance- monitoring and built-in-test sensors and from other prognostic software and (2) processes the received data to derive a diagnosis and a prognosis for a weapon system. This software relates the diagnostic and prognostic information to the overall health of the system, to the ability of the system to perform specific missions, and to needed maintenance actions and maintenance resources. In the development of the Prognostics Framework, effort was focused primarily on extending previously developed model-based diagnostic-reasoning software to add prognostic reasoning capabilities, including capabilities to perform statistical analyses and to utilize information pertaining to deterioration of parts, failure modes, time sensitivity of measured values, mission criticality, historical data, and trends in measurement data. As thus extended, the software offers an overall health-monitoring capability

Polymorphisms in the circadian expressed genes PER3 and ARNTL2 are associated with diurnal preference and GNβ3 with sleep measures

Sleep and circadian rhythms are intrinsically linked, with several sleep traits, including sleep timing and duration, influenced by both sleep homeostasis and the circadian phase. Genetic variation in several circadian genes has been associated with diurnal preference (preference in timing of sleep), although there has been limited research on whether they are associated with other sleep measurements. We investigated whether these genetic variations were associated with diurnal preference (Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire) and various sleep measures, including: the global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality index score; sleep duration; and sleep latency and sleep quality. We genotyped 10 polymorphisms in genes with circadian expression in participants from the G1219 sample (n = 966), a British longitudinal population sample of young adults. We conducted linear regressions using dominant, additive and recessive models of inheritance to test for associations between these polymorphisms and the sleep measures. We found a significant association between diurnal preference and a polymorphism in period homologue 3 (PER3) (P < 0.005, recessive model) and a novel nominally significant association between diurnal preference and a polymorphism in aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator-like 2 (ARNTL2) (P < 0.05, additive model). We found that a polymorphism in guanine nucleotide binding protein beta 3 (GNβ3) was associated significantly with global sleep quality (P < 0.005, recessive model), and that a rare polymorphism in period homologue 2 (PER2) was associated significantly with both sleep duration and quality (P < 0.0005, recessive model). These findings suggest that genes with circadian expression may play a role in regulating both the circadian clock and sleep homeostasis, and highlight the importance of further studies aimed at dissecting the specific roles that circadian genes play in these two interrelated but unique behaviours

Micro-opto-mechanical switching and tuning for integrated optical systems

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-260).Integrated optical circuits have the potential to lower manufacturing and operating costs and enhance the functionality of optical systems in a manner similar to what has been achieved by integrating electronic circuits. One of the basic optical elements required to enable integrated optical circuits is an integrated optical switch, analogous to transistor switches used in integrated electronic circuits. An ideal switch for integrated optical circuits would provide wavelength-selective switching. Wavelength- selective behavior is an important characteristic for devices intended for networking applications as wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) of optical signals has become the accepted standard. A major contribution of this thesis is the design, fabrication, and experimental demonstration of a wavelength-selective, integrated optical switch. This switch operates by combining a microring resonator filter with a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device that allows the normally static ring resonator filter to be switched on and off. This represents the first demonstration of a wavelength-selective integrated optical MEMS switch. Additional contributions of this work include a new study of dielectric charging, analysis of the use of titanium nitride as structural material for MEMS, two new MEMS actuation techniques that lead to higher speed and/or lower actuation volt- age, and a feasibility analysis for wavelength tuning using a generalized version of the switch design. A model for the evolution of dielectric charging during the actuation of MEMS devices was developed to address a deviation of the experimentally fabricated devices from the theoretical predictions according to older models.(cont.) The new model predicts the experimental voltage versus displacement behavior of the wave-length selective switch accurately, and offers new insights into the physics of dielectric charging. The use of titanium nitride as a MEMS material was conceived as a solution to residual stress problems that are common in cantilever-type of actuators in general, including the wavelength-selective switch. Specific details on MEMS implementation using titanium nitride are discussed in the thesis. To address CMOS compatibility and speed challenges, two new complementary MEMS switch actuation techniques were developed. The new methods require less voltage and energy for actuation while at the same time reducing the switching time of the device to levels unachievable with current MEMS actuation techniques. Preliminary theoretical and experimental results are presented and discussed. Finally, the thesis covers the feasibility analysis of a version of the switch design where the motion is analog and, hence, can be used for tuning of resonant integrated optical structures. The analysis shows that the required positional accuracy is achievable with on-chip capacitive position sensing and feedback control, and points to a promising new direction for mechanically tunable integrated photonics. While these contributions are all outgrowths of work directed towards realizing an integrated optical circuit, they are also significant for applications such as radio- frequency (RF) MEMS switching and free-space optical MEMS devices (i.e. micro- mirror arrays for projection displays).by Gregory Nolan Nielson.Ph.D

Evaluation of denoising strategies to address motion-correlated artifacts in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from the human connectome roject

Like all resting-state functional connectivity data, the data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) are adversely affected by structured noise artifacts arising from head motion and physiological processes. Functional connectivity estimates (Pearson's correlation coefficients) were inflated for high-motion time points and for high-motion participants. This inflation occurred across the brain, suggesting the presence of globally distributed artifacts. The degree of inflation was further increased for connections between nearby regions compared with distant regions, suggesting the presence of distance-dependent spatially specific artifacts. We evaluated several denoising methods: censoring high-motion time points, motion regression, the FMRIB independent component analysis-based X-noiseifier (FIX), and mean grayordinate time series regression (MGTR; as a proxy for global signal regression). The results suggest that FIX denoising reduced both types of artifacts, but left substantial global artifacts behind. MGTR significantly reduced global artifacts, but left substantial spatially specific artifacts behind. Censoring high-motion time points resulted in a small reduction of distance-dependent and global artifacts, eliminating neither type. All denoising strategies left differences between high- and low-motion participants, but only MGTR substantially reduced those differences. Ultimately, functional connectivity estimates from HCP data showed spatially specific and globally distributed artifacts, and the most effective approach to address both types of motion-correlated artifacts was a combination of FIX and MGTR

A DIGITAL ENGINEERING CASE STUDY OF AN UNMANNED UNDERWATER VEHICLE

Team Icarus created a digital engineering case study based on an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) to provide a robust view of developing an architecture using Cameo Systems Modeler by executing the MagicGrid architecture development methodology. The case study includes connecting this architecture model to directly drive several engineering analysis tools (Excel, MATLAB/Simulink, a Computer Aided Design tool) through middle-ware software (ModelCenter MBSE). The design was refined through a design of experiments and is visualized through software tools (ModelCenter Explore). This case study is provided to Naval Surface Warfare Center–Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) to be a supplement to the training of systems engineers and systems logisticians to fill in the gaps of existing trainings. This case study is also provided to Naval Postgraduate School to supplement the education of current and future students on architecture development and digital engineering.Civilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Development of advanced veneer and other products from coconut wood to enhance livelihoods in South Pacific communities

Coconut plantations are a valuable economic and social resource for many communities in South Pacific Islands. However, many palms are senile, have lost much of their vitality and productivity, and act as a major constraint on improved agricultural production. Yet, they present a significant opportunity for a sustainable increase in wood production. Over 65,000 hectares of senile coconuts, or 6.3 million senile stems, are thought to exist in the three South Pacific countries participating in this project. The project aimed to develop the technologies, processes and expertise to produce high quality veneer and complementary soil conditioning products from senile coconut stems on an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable basis and thereby enhance livelihoods in South Pacific communities. Achieving this could support community acceptance and action for an orderly and profitable senile coconut plantation renewal program in South Pacific communities

Green algal infection of American horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) exoskeletal structures

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 111 (2012): 90-93, doi:10.1016/j.jip.2012.06.002.Degenerative lesions in the dorsum of the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) exoskeleton, eyes, arthrodial membrane, and base of the telson were documented in a population of wild caught laboratory animals. The disease can lead to loss of tissue structure and function, deformed shells, abnormal molting, loss of ocular structures, erosion of interskeletal membranes, and cardiac hemorrhage. Microscopy, histopathology, and in vitro culture confirmed the causative agent to be a green algae of the family Ulvaceae. Further research may explain how green algae overcome horseshoe crab innate immunity leading to external and internal damage.This study was supported in part by the Frederick B. Bang Fellowship and a grant from the Division of Research Resources, National Institutes of Health (P-40-RR1333-07)