Value-Driven Enterprise Architecture Evaluation for the Joint Force Protection Advanced Security System

The U.S. military has placed a strong focus on the importance of operating in a joint environment, where capabilities and missions are shared between service components. Protecting U.S. forces is a major consideration in the joint environment. The Joint Force Protection Advanced Security System (JFPASS) architecture has been created to fill a critical gap in Joint Force Protection guidance for systems acquisition. The systems engineering (SE) field has made wide use of system architectures to represent complex systems. As fundamental SE principles become more widespread, analysis tools provide an objective method for the evaluation of the resulting architectural products. This study used decision analysis to develop a standardized, yet adaptable and repeatable model to evaluate the capabilities of the JFPASS for any installation or facility belonging to the United States Department of Defense (DoD). Using the Value-Focused Thinking (VFT) methods, a value hierarchy was created by consulting with subject matter experts. The resulting model, named Value-Driven Enterprise Architecture (VDEA) score, provides an analysis tool, which enables DoD decision-makers to use JFPASS architecture products to quickly and easily evaluate the value provided by the system; VDEA provides insight into the overall quality and capability of the system. Through the scoring and sensitivity analysis functions, capability gaps and potential improvements can be identified. Future studies in this area will provide a vehicle for rating not only operational level systems, but also individual functional projects against other alternatives

Varied Perspectives: An Inquest of Four Organizational and Ethical Issues

This thesis presents my responses to questions posed by four professors with whom I studied while completing my coursework in the Organizational Dynamics Master’s Degree Program at the University of Pennsylvania. My thesis represents a composite of the theoretical and practical knowledge I gained through my coursework and interactions with my peers and professors in the MSOD program. My project focuses on organizational culture, ethics, leadership coaching, and strategy to formulate an overview of my learning and applying that learning to answer the questions presented to me by some of the professors with whom I studied. Dr. Elijah Anderson asked me to conduct a literature review and write a proposal for an ethnographic study of an important aspect of the organization. Professor Andrew Lamas presented me with two essays, one from Walter Benjamin, and one from Eben Moglen, asked me to analyze them, and to relate them to an important 21st-century topic. Dr. Rod Napier required me to distinguish executive coaching from the field from therapy, and to build a case for the skill requirements an executive coach needs to help clients successfully. Finally, Professor Eric van Merkensteijn requested that I analyze the Ford Motor Company and develop a strategic plan to return the company to solvency

Screening of the COL8A2 gene in an Australian family with early-onset Fuchs’ endothelial corneal dystrophy

This item is under embargo for a period of 12 months from the date of publication, in accordance with the publisher's policy

Review of the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in Indigenous Australians

Author version made available in accordance with Publisher copyright policy.The purpose of this review is to compare the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians with Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Australian DR prevalence data from 6 Indigenous studies (n = 2865) and 5 non-Indigenous studies (n = 9801) conducted between 1985 and 2013 were included for analysis. Estimated prevalence of any DR among Indigenous Australians with DM was 23.4% compared with 28.9% for non-Indigenous Australians (χ2 = 26.9, P < 0.001). In studies performed after 1990, a significantly higher rate of diabetic macular edema was found in Indigenous compared with non-Indigenous Australians with DM (7.6% versus 4.9%, χ2 = 6.67, P = 0.01). Although there are limitations in comparing these studies, one explanation for the observed data could be a model in which Indigenous Australians are relatively resistant to early stage DR, but with a subset progressing to sight threatening DR due to individual genetic and environmental susceptibility factors coupled with poor glycemic control

Theory of x-ray absorption by laser-aligned symmetric-top molecules

We devise a theory of x-ray absorption by symmetric-top molecules which are aligned by an intense optical laser. Initially, the density matrix of the system is composed of the electronic ground state of the molecules and a thermal ensemble of rigid-rotor eigenstates. We formulate equations of motion of the two-color (laser plus x rays) rotational-electronic problem. The interaction with the laser is assumed to be nonresonant; it is described by an electric dipole polarizability tensor. X-ray absorption is approximated as a one-photon process. It is shown that the equations can be separated such that the interaction with the laser can be treated independently of the x rays. The laser-only density matrix is propagated numerically. After each time step, the x-ray absorption is calculated. We apply our theory to study adiabatic alignment of bromine molecules (Br2). The required dynamic polarizabilities are determined using the ab initio linear response methods coupled-cluster singles (CCS), second-order approximate coupled-cluster singles and doubles (CC2), and coupled-cluster singles and doubles (CCSD). For the description of x-ray absorption on the sigma_g 1s --> sigma_u 4p resonance, a parameter-free two-level model is used for the electronic structure of the molecules. Our theory opens up novel perspectives for the quantum control of x-ray radiation.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, RevTeX4, revise

How COVID-19 has fundamentally changed clinical research in global health

COVID-19 has had negative repercussions on the entire global population. Despite there being a common goal that should have unified resources and efforts, there have been an overwhelmingly large number of clinical trials that have been registered that are of questionable methodological quality. As the final paper of this Series, we discuss how the medical research community has responded to COVID-19. We recognise the incredible pressure that this pandemic has put on researchers, regulators, and policy makers, all of whom were doing their best to move quickly but safely in a time of tremendous uncertainty. However, the research community\u27s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has prominently highlighted many fundamental issues that exist in clinical trial research under the current system and its incentive structures. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only re-emphasised the importance of well designed randomised clinical trials but also highlighted the need for large-scale clinical trials structured according to a master protocol in a coordinated and collaborative manner. There is also a need for structures and incentives to enable faster data sharing of anonymised datasets, and a need to provide similar opportunities to those in high-income countries for clinical trial research in low-resource regions where clinical trial research receives considerably less research funding

Genetic association at the 9p21 glaucoma locus contributes to sex bias in normal-tension glaucoma

Purpose: Many genome-wide association studies have identified common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the 9p21 glaucoma locus (CDKN2B/CDKN2B-AS1) to be significantly associated with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), with association being stronger in normal tension glaucoma (NTG) and advanced glaucoma. We aimed to determine whether any observed differences in genetic association at the 9p21 locus are influenced by sex. Methods: Sex was assessed as a risk factor for POAG for 2241 glaucoma participants from the Australian and New Zealand Registry of Advanced Glaucoma, the Glaucoma Inheritance Study in Tasmania, and the Flinders Medical Centre. A total of 3176 controls were drawn from the Blue Mountains Eye Study and South Australia: 1523 advanced POAG and 718 nonadvanced POAG cases were genotyped along with 3176 controls. We selected 13 SNPs at the 9p21 locus, and association results were subanalyszd by sex for high-tension glaucoma (HTG) and NTG. Odds ratios (ORs) between sexes were compared. Results: A sex bias was present within advanced NTG cases (57.1% female versus 42.9% male, P = 0.0026). In all POAG cases, the strongest associated SNP at 9p21 was rs1063192 (OR, 1.43; P = 4 × 10⁻¹⁸). This association was stronger in females (OR, 1.5; P = 5 × 10⁻¹³) than in males (OR, 1.35; P = 7 × 10⁻⁷), with a statistically significant difference in female to male OR comparison (P = 1.0 × 10⁻²). An NTG to HTG subanalysis yielded statistically significant results only in females (OR, 1.63; P = 1.5 × 10⁻⁴) but not in males (OR, 1.15; P = 2.8 × 10⁻¹), with a statistically significant difference in female to male OR comparison (P = 1.4 × 10⁻⁴). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that female sex is a risk factor for developing advanced NTG. The stronger genetic signals at the 9p21 locus among females may contribute at least in part to the observed sex bias for NTG.Soo Khai Ng, Kathryn P. Burdon, Jude T. Fitzgerald, Tiger Zhou, Rhys Fogarty, Emmanuelle Souzeau, John Landers, Richard A. Mills, Robert J. Casson, Bronwyn Ridge, Stuart L. Graham, Alex W. Hewitt, David A. Mackey, Paul R. Healey, Jie Jin Wang, Paul Mitchell, Stuart MacGregor, and Jamie E. Crai

Rare variants in optic disc area gene CARD10 enriched in primary open-angle glaucoma

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified association of common alleles with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and its quantitative endophenotypes near numerous genes. This study aims to determine whether rare pathogenic variants in these disease-associated genes contribute to POAG. Methods: Participants fulfilled strict inclusion criteria of advanced POAG at a young age of diagnosis. Myocilin mutation carriers were excluded using direct sequencing. Whole exome sequencing was performed on 187 glaucoma cases and 103 local screened nonglaucoma controls then joint-called with exomes of 993 previously sequenced Australian controls. GWAS-associated genes were assessed for enrichment of rare predicted pathogenic variants in POAG. Significantly enriched genes were compared against Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC) public control. Results: Eighty-six GWAS disease or trait-associated glaucoma genes were captured and sequenced. CARD10 showed enrichment after Bonferroni correction for rare variants in glaucoma cases (OR = 13.2, P = 6.94 × 10−5) with mutations identified in 4.28% of our POAG cohort compared to 0.27% in controls. CARD10 was significantly associated with optic disc parameters in previous GWAS. The whole GWAS gene set showed no enrichment in POAG overall (OR = 1.12, P = 0.51). Conclusion: We report here an enrichment of rare predicted pathogenic coding variants within a GWAS-associated locus in POAG (CARD10). These findings indicate that both common and rare pathogenic coding variants in CARD10 may contribute to POAG pathogenesis.Tiger Zhou, Emmanuelle Souzeau, Shiwani Sharma, Owen M. Siggs, Ivan Goldberg, Paul R. Healey, Stuart Graham, Alex W. Hewitt, David A. Mackey, Robert J. Casson, John Landers, Richard Mills, Jonathan Ellis, Paul Leo, Matthew A. Brown, Stuart MacGregor, Kathryn P. Burdon and Jamie E. Crai