Isotope Effects in Complex Scattering Lengths for He Collisions With Molecular Hydrogen

We examine the effect of theoretically varying the collision-system reduced mass in collisions of He with vibrationally excited molecular hydrogen and observe zero-energy resonances for select atomic “hydrogen” masses less than 1 u or a “helium” mass of 1.95 u. Complex scattering lengths, state-to-state vibrational quenching cross sections, and a low-energy elastic scattering resonance are all studied as a function of collision-system reduced mass. Experimental observations of these phenomena in the cold and ultracold regimes for collisions of $^{3}$He and $^{4}$He with H$_{2}$, HD, HT, and DT should be feasible in the near future.Astronom

Estimating the impact of city-wide Aedes aegypti population control: An observational study in Iquitos, Peru.

During the last 50 years, the geographic range of the mosquito Aedes aegypti has increased dramatically, in parallel with a sharp increase in the disease burden from the viruses it transmits, including Zika, chikungunya, and dengue. There is a growing consensus that vector control is essential to prevent Aedes-borne diseases, even as effective vaccines become available. What remains unclear is how effective vector control is across broad operational scales because the data and the analytical tools necessary to isolate the effect of vector-oriented interventions have not been available. We developed a statistical framework to model Ae. aegypti abundance over space and time and applied it to explore the impact of citywide vector control conducted by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Iquitos, Peru, over a 12-year period. Citywide interventions involved multiple rounds of intradomicile insecticide space spray over large portions of urban Iquitos (up to 40% of all residences) in response to dengue outbreaks. Our model captured significant levels of spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal variation in Ae. aegypti abundance within and between years and across the city. We estimated the shape of the relationship between the coverage of neighborhood-level vector control and reductions in female Ae. aegypti abundance; i.e., the dose-response curve. The dose-response curve, with its associated uncertainties, can be used to gauge the necessary spraying effort required to achieve a desired effect and is a critical tool currently absent from vector control programs. We found that with complete neighborhood coverage MoH intra-domicile space spray would decrease Ae. aegypti abundance on average by 67% in the treated neighborhood. Our framework can be directly translated to other interventions in other locations with geolocated mosquito abundance data. Results from our analysis can be used to inform future vector-control applications in Ae. aegypti endemic areas globally

Electronic and Optical Materials and Applications

Contains research objectives and reports on five research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAG29-78-C-0020)United States Air Force (Contract F19628-79-C-0047

Microwave and Quantum Magnetics

Contains research objectives and reports on six research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAG29-78-C-0020)Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAG29-80-C-0104)United States Air Force (Contract F19628-79-C-0047

Microwave and Quantum Magnetics

Contains research objectives and reports on nine research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAG29-80-C-0104)National Science Foundation (Grant 8008628-DAR)U.S. Army (Contract DAAG29-81-K-0126)U.S. Air Force (Contract F19628-79-C-0047

NASA IceCube: CubeSat Demonstration of a Commercial 883-GHz Cloud Radiometer

On April 18 2017, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's IceCube 3U CubeSat was launched by an ATLAS V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on board a Cygnus resupply spacecraft, as part of NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative. Onboard IceCube was an 883 GHz radiometer tuned to detecting ice content in clouds, marking the first time such frequency was used from low-Earth orbit. IceCube successfully demonstrated retrieval of ice water path, generating the first ever global cloud ice map at 883 GHz. Its success provides valuable lessons on how to approach a severely resource-limited space mission and provides great insight into how this experience can be applied to future high-risk, "non-class" missions for NASA and others. IceCube marks the first official NASA Earth Science CubeSat technology demonstration mission. The spacecraft was completed in about 2.5 years starting April 2014 through launch provider delivery in December of 2016. The mission was jointly funded by NASA's Earth Science Technology Office, after competitive selection, and by NASA's Earth Science Directorate. IceCube began its technology demonstration mission in June 2017, providing a pathway to advancing the understanding of ice clouds and their role in climate models; quite a tall order for a tiny spacecraft

HIV prevention trial design in an era of effective pre-exposure prophylaxis.

CAPRISA, 2017.Abstract available in pdf

MONITORING PRODUCT RELIABILITY WITH COMPETING RISKS USING REAL-TIME CONTRASTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF BLUEBERRY PHENOLOGICAL STAGES

This dissertation includes two papers covering independent topics. The first paper discusses the application of the Real-Time Contrasts (RTC) method of process monitoring on competing-risk failure data. Lab test results are simulated to explore theperformance of this approach which is compared to that of logistic regression, another method of process monitoring. A method of feature selection as well as a way to handle fault detection is also discussed.The second paper explores different approaches of modeling the phenological stages of blueberry plants. Different methods explored include ordinal logistic regression models, multi-state models, approximate latent linear models, random forests, and neural networks. Different feature configurations and stage structures are considered. Modeling methods are compared through the mean squared error of the stage predictions as well as the prediction probabilities

An investigation of pressure drag in transonic flow by the method of hydraulic analogy

M.S.Richard G. Fledderman