Proper Zero

In an alternative future Earth, a warring augmented humanity finds itself forced to take sides in a larger conflict between celestial beings, creators of the world. This novel follows the journey of Ahri Doloran-Spero as she traces back her complex lineage through the memories of her dead mother, Lorandael Doloran. Through her mother’s memories of her own childhood as a child soldier and three other child soldiers — Titus, Shura, and Khaene — Ahri witnesses the war between humans paired with powerful celestial beings, factions of augmented humans, and perfected, sentient artificial intelligences unfold across three generations. Chronicled as a series of disclosed data files of Ahri’s recorded memories, Proper Zero is a fictionalized A Long Way Gone or On Killing, exhibiting the harsh realities that accompany children participating in genocidal warfare, while also exploring the innate human bias against killing. As Ahri struggles to discover and understand her family’s war-torn past, Lorandael attempts to teach Ahri about humanity’s present and potential future — lessons and memories Ahri will pass on to her daughter, and so on and so forth, for generations to come

SAFER: Search and Find Emergency Rover

When disaster strikes and causes a structure to collapse, it poses a unique challenge to search and rescue teams as they assess the situation and search for survivors. Currently there are very few tools that can be used by these teams to aid them in gathering important information about the situation that allow members to stay at a safe distance. SAFER, Search and Find Emergency Rover, is an unmanned, remotely operated vehicle that can provide early reconnaissance to search and rescue teams so they may have more information to prepare themselves for the dangers that lay inside the wreckage. Over the past year, this team has restored a bare, non-operational chassis inherited from Roverwerx 2012 into a rugged and operational rover with increased functionality and reliability. SAFER uses a 360-degree camera to deliver real time visual reconnaissance to the operator who can remain safely stationed on the outskirts of the disaster. With strong drive motors providing enough torque to traverse steep obstacles and enough power to travel at up to 3 ft/s, SAFER can cover ground quickly and effectively over its 1-3 hour battery life, maximizing reconnaissance for the team. Additionally, SAFER contains 3 flashing beacons that can be dropped by the operator in the event a victim is found so that when team members do enter the scene they may easily locate victims. In the future, other teams may wish to improve upon this iteration by adding thermal imaging, air quality sensors, and potentially a robotic arm with a camera that can see in spaces too small for the entire rover to enter

Monitoring and management of a landslide on the main motorway between Sydney and Wollongong, NSW Australia

The Mount Ousley Road section of the M1 Princes Motorway is one of the main transportation links between the cities of Sydney and Wollongong, New South Wales (NSW), on the east coast of Australia. The road was originally constructed during World War II as an alternative defense route and now supports approximately 50,000 vehicle movements per day. The road negotiates 4.4km of the Illawarra escarpment at grades up to 1:8. A section of the road traverses the largest landslide in the Wollongong Landslide Inventory, Site 141. The surface area of the landslide is 67,000m2, which includes a 350m section of Mount Ousley Road affecting all six lanes. The landslide is a deep seated, episodically active translational debris slide with a maximum depth of sliding of 20.5m. The landslide is managed by a continuous real-time monitoring system and is dewatered by nine 30m deep pumping wells to maintain lower ground water levels. The dewatering system was installed in 1988, but has been upgraded three times to enhance serviceability and most recently to provide a further 10 years of landslide management. This paper presents some analysis of data collected from the continuous real-time monitoring system established by the University of Wollongong Landslide Research Team, in partnership with NSW Government organizations including Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) and NSW Public Works and highlights the troubleshooting work associated. Periodic and continuous monitoring has been successful in identifying needs for the dewatering system upgrades, assessing thresholds for slope movement and evaluating the overall effectiveness of the remedial measures installed

Efficacy of Medical Operations and Layout Planning Onboard Nontraditional US Navy Vessels at High Seas

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usz227Introduction: Attempting to expedite delivery of care to wounded war fighters, this study aimed to quantify the ability of medical and surgical teams to perform lifesaving damage control and resuscitation procedures aboard nontraditional US Navy Vessels on high seas. Specifically, it looked at the ability of the teams to perform procedures in shipboard operating and emergency rooms by analyzing motion of personnel during the procedures. Methods: One hundred and twelve damage control and resuscitation procedures were performed during a voyage of the US Naval Ship Brunswick in transit from Norfolk, Virginia, to San Diego, California. The ability of personnel to perform these procedures was quantified by the use of motion link analysis designed to track the movement of each participant as they completed their assigned tasks. Results: The link analysis showed no significant change in the number of movements of participants from the beginning to the end of the study. However, there was a learning effect observed during the study, with teams completing tasks faster at the end of the study than at the beginning. Conclusion: This shows that the working conditions aboard the US Naval Ship Brunswick were satisfactory for the assigned tasks, indicating that these medical operations may be feasible aboard nontraditional US Navy vessels.This specific study was a part of a major three-phase investigation entitled �Effect of High Deck Accelerations on Surgical Tasks� funded by the following organizations for each phase: Phase I�Office of Naval Research, Phase II�Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) N81, and Phase III�Advanced Medical Development and OPNAV N81.This specific study was a part of a major three-phase investigation entitled �Effect of High Deck Accelerations on Surgical Tasks� funded by the following organizations for each phase: Phase I�Office of Naval Research, Phase II�Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) N81, and Phase III�Advanced Medical Development and OPNAV N81

Assessing Surgical Task Load and Performance: A Comparison of Simulation and Maritime Operation

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usz297This study examined the effects of simulated and actual vessel motion at high seas on task load and surgical performance. Methods: This project was performed in phases. Phase I was a feasibility study. Phase II utilized a motion base simulator to replicate vessel motion. Phase III was conducted aboard the U.S. Naval Ship Brunswick. After performing surgical tasks on a surgical simulation mannequin, participants completed the Surgical Task Load Index (TLX) designed to collect workload data. Simulated surgeries were evaluated by subject matter experts. Results: TLX scores were higher in Phase III than Phase II, particularly at higher sea states. Surgical performance was not significantly different between Phase II (84%) and Phase III (89%). Simulated motions were comparable in both phases. Conclusions: Simulated motion was not associated with a significant difference in surgical performance or deck motion, suggesting that this simulator replicates the conditions experienced during surgery at sea on the U.S. Naval Ship Brunswick. However, Surgical TLX scores were dramatically different between the two phases, suggesting increased workload at sea, which may be the result of time at sea, the stress of travel, or other factors. Surgical performance was not affected by sea state in either phase.Bureau of Medicine USN; OPNAV N-81 Assessments Division, Medical Analysis Branch; Navy Advanced Medical Development; Naval Surface Warfare Center, PC.Phase I of this study was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research. Phase II was sponsored by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) N-81 Assessments Division, Medical Analysis Branch (N813). Phase III was sponsored by the OPNAV N-81 (N813) and Navy Advanced Medical Development (AMD).Bureau of Medicine USN; OPNAV N-81 Assessments Division, Medical Analysis Branch; Navy Advanced Medical Development; Naval Surface Warfare Center, PC.Phase I of this study was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research. Phase II was sponsored by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) N-81 Assessments Division, Medical Analysis Branch (N813). Phase III was sponsored by the OPNAV N-81 (N813) and Navy Advanced Medical Development (AMD)

Starbursts and High-Redshift Galaxies are Radioactive: High Abundances of 26^{26}Al and Other Short Lived Radionuclides

Short lived radionuclides (SLRs) like $^{26}$Al are synthesized by massive stars and are a byproduct of star formation. The abundances of SLRs in the gas of a star-forming galaxy are inversely proportional to the gas consumption time. The rapid evolution of specific star formation rate (SSFR) of normal galaxies implies they had mean SLR abundances ~3--10 times higher at z = 2. During the epoch of Solar system formation, the background SLR abundances of the Galaxy were up to twice as high as at present, if SLR yields from massive stars do not depend on metallicity. If SLRs are homogenized in the gas of galaxies, the high SSFRs of normal galaxies can partly explain the elevated abundance of SLRs like $^{60}$Fe and $^{26}$Al in the early Solar system. Starburst galaxies have much higher SSFRs still, and have enormous mean abundances of $^{26}$Al ($^{26}$Al/$^{27}$Al ~ $10^{-3}$ for Solar metallicity gas). The main uncertainty is whether the SLRs are mixed with the star-forming molecular gas: they could be trapped in hot gas and decay before entering the colder phases, or be blown out by starburst winds. I consider how variability in star-formation rate affects the SLR abundances, and I discuss how SLR transport may differ in these galaxies. The enhanced $^{26}$Al of starbursts might maintain moderate ionization rates ($10^{-18}$ -- $10^{-17}$ s$^{-1}$), possibly dominating ionization in dense clouds not penetrated by cosmic rays. Similar ionization rates would be maintained in protoplanetary discs of starbursts, if the SLRs are well-mixed, and the radiogenic heating of planetesimals would likewise be much higher. In this way, galaxy evolution can affect the geological history of planetary systems.Comment: Published in MNRAS, 12 pages, 3 figure

The influence of hip circumference on the relationship between abdominal obesity and mortality

Background Higher waist circumference and lower hip circumference are both associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, despite being directly correlated. The real effects of visceral obesity may therefore be underestimated when hip circumference is not fully taken into account. We hypothesized that adding waist and hip circumference to traditional risk factors would significantly improve CVD risk prediction

Occurrence of new neurons in the piriform cortex

Adult neurogenesis has been well studied in hippocampus and subventricular zone; while this is much less appreciated in other brain regions, including amygdala, hypothalamus and piriform cortex. The present review aims at summarizing recent advances on the occurrence of new neurons in the piriform cortex, their potential origin and migration route from the subventricular zone. We further discuss the relevant implications in olfactory dysfunction accompanying the neuro-degenerative diseases