Political intelligence then and now

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1931. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

Are your lights off? Using problem frames to diagnose system failures

This paper reports on our experience of investigating the role of software systems in the power blackout that affected parts of the United States and Canada on 14 August 2003. Based on a detailed study of the official report on the blackout, our investigation has aimed to bring out requirements engineering lessons that can inform development practices for dependable software systems. Since the causes of failures are typically rooted in the complex structures of software systems and their world contexts, we have deployed and evaluated a framework that looks beyond the scope of software and into its physical context, directing attention to places in the system structures where failures are likely to occur. We report that (i) Problem Frames were effective in diagnosing the causes of failures and documenting the causes in a schematic and accessible way, and (ii) errors in addressing the concerns of biddable domains, model building problems, and monitoring problems had contributed to the blackout

Frequency Domain Functional Near-Infrared Spectrometer (fNIRS) for Crew State Monitoring

A frequency domain functional near-infrared spectrometer (fNIRS) and accompanying software have been developed by the NASA Glenn Research Center as part of the Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP) Technologies for Airplane State Awareness (TASA)SE211 Crew State Monitoring (CSM) Project. The goal of CSM was to develop a suite of instruments to measure the cognitive state of operators while performing operational activities. The fNIRS was one of the instruments intended for the CSM, developed to measure changes in oxygen levels in the brain noninvasively

Adaptation studies in residue pitch

Residue pitch perception in the human (three subjects with normal hearing) was examined with the psychophysical technique of adaptation. In this method an adaptation residue pitch of a particular value was presented for 30 seconds and its effect on the perceptibility of a test residue pitch of particular value was noted. Several aspects of residue pitch were studied: the channel specificity for residue pitch with regard to complexes made up of both low and high spectral composition; adaptation of a residue pitch arising from components of a particular spectral region by the same pitch arising from components of a different spectral region; the number of pitch cues or components necessary to adapt a residue pitch channel; the importance of temporal fine structure in adapting pitch specific channels; and the relation between pure tone and residue pitch. All studies were performed with the adaptation and test stimuli presented to the same ear (monaural) and with the adaptation and test stimuli presented to different ears (binaural)

On the encoding of pitch and the quantitative measurement of pitch strength

The purposes of this study were (a) to examine the level, peripheral or central, at which complex stimuli are encoded or analyzed, and (b) to obtain quantitative measures of the strength of complex stimuli. Theories of complex pitch perception (especially Wightman's 1973b.The pattern transformation model of pitch. J. Acous. Soc. Amer., 54,407-417) bearing on the physiological level of pitch encoding and the strength of complex stimuli were reviewed, and a number of complex stimulus presentation methods that would test the predictions of these theories were described. Peripheral vs. central pitch analysis was examined in binaural conditions in which complex tones having different fundamentals were presented to separate ears. The stimuli were selected such that taken together, they had the same fundamental. If two pitches (each corresponding to the fundamental of the complex at each ear) were heard, evidence for peripheral coding would be supplied. If one pitch (corresponding to the fundamental of both complexes taken together) were heard, evidence for central coding would be supplied

SSRC Annual Report 2012

The SSRC was established in 1950 and enjoys a long and storied history of research accomplishments. The impact of our research has had on the state, the nation and the world is evident in the success of our organization, which has ultimately been driven by the desire and dedication of our employees. Although an organization\u27s annual report provides a venue to applaud the hard work and dedication of its employees for its success during the previous year, this particular report also celebrates our accomplished past and acknowledges significant historical milestones celebrated this year

Developmental succession of the microbiome of Culex mosquitoes

Background: The native microflora associated with mosquitoes have important roles in mosquito development and vector competence. Sequencing of bacterial V3 region from 16S rRNA genes across the developmental stages of Culex mosquitoes (early and late larval instars, pupae and adults) was used to test the hypothesis that bacteria found in the larval stage of Culex are transstadially transmitted to the adult stage, and to compare the microbiomes of field-collected versus laboratory-reared mosquitoes.Results: Beta diversity analysis revealed that bacterial community structure differed among three life stages (larvae, pupae and adults) of Culex tarsalis. Although only similar to 2 % of the total number of bacterial OTUs were found in all stages, sequences from these OTUs accounted for nearly 82 % of the total bacterial sequences recovered from all stages. Thorsellia (Gammaproteobacteria) was the most abundant bacterial taxon found across all developmental stages of field-collected Culex mosquitoes, but was rare in mosquitoes from laboratory-reared colonies. The proportion of Thorsellia sequences in the microbiomes of mosquito life stages varied ontogenetically with the greatest proportions recovered from the pupae of C. tarsalis and the lowest from newly emerged adults. The microbiome of field-collected late instar larvae was not influenced significantly by differences in the microbiota of the habitat due to habitat age or biopesticide treatments. The microbiome diversity was the greatest in the early instar larvae and the lowest in laboratory-reared mosquitoes.Conclusions: Bacterial communities in early instar C. tarsalis larvae were significantly more diverse when compared to late instar larvae, pupae and newly emerged adults. Some of the bacterial OTUs found in the early instar larvae were also found across developmental stages. Thorsellia dominated the bacterial communities in field-collected immature stages but occurred at much lower relative abundance in adults. Differences in microbiota observed in larval habitats did not influence bacterial community profiles of late instar larvae or adults. However, bacterial communities in laboratory-reared C. tarsalis larvae differed significantly from the field. Determining the role of Thorsellia in mosquitoes and its distribution across different species of mosquitoes warrants further investigation

Towards process-informed bias correction of climate change simulations

Biases in climate model simulations introduce biases in subsequent impact simulations. Therefore, bias correction methods are operationally used to post-process regional climate projections. However, many problems have been identified, and some researchers question the very basis of the approach. Here we demonstrate that a typical cross-validation is unable to identify improper use of bias correction. Several examples show the limited ability of bias correction to correct and to downscale variability, and demonstrate that bias correction can cause implausible climate change signals. Bias correction cannot overcome major model errors, and naive application might result in ill-informed adaptation decisions. We conclude with a list of recommendations and suggestions for future research to reduce, post-process, and cope with climate model biases