Host nation security force development : a new roadmap

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references.A new model concerning the concepts of host nation security force development, or security sector reform (SSR), is proposed. This model is rooted in scholarly literature and seeks to fill current gaps in United States Army doctrine. The model is mobilized as a dependent variable, changing with different conditions of insurgency and ethnicity. This is a novel approach because it considers distinction between military and police forces as the central concept. Additionally, current security sector reform policies and procedures are not well theorized nor codified in doctrine. Empirical studies were carried out in order to validate hypotheses generated by this new proposed model.by Shawn Fitzgerald.S.M

Phobos First: A Mission to Settle Mars

Establishing a permanent human settlement on Mars is an important step in mankind’s goal of expanding life beyond the Earth. Phobos First is a plan to establish a Martian colony while minimizing the risks of the colonization process and using only technology that is either available now, or is feasible within the next decade. The Phobos scenario does this by breaking the settlement process into smaller steps, each of which is a gradual but important advancement in and of itself, but when combined, results in a thriving human colony on another planet, capable of supporting itself and expanding through in-situ resource utilization. Central to the scenario is a manned orbital outpost on Phobos, from which teleoperated robots would be controlled to construct the permanent settlement on Mars

Modeling Human Gaming Playing Behavior and Reward/Penalty Mechanism using Discrete Event Simulation (DES)

Humans are remarkably complex and unpredictable; however, while predicting human behavior can be problematic, there are methods such as modeling and simulation that can be used to predict probable futures of human decisions. The present study analyzes the possibility of replacing human subjects with data resulting from pure models. Decisions made by college students in a multi-level mystery-solving game under 3 different gaming conditions are compared with the data collected from a predictive sequential Markov-Decision Process model. In addition, differences in participants’ data influenced by the three different conditions (additive, subtractive, control) were analyzed. The test results strongly suggest that the data gathered from the model can possibly represent the ones gathered from the human participants in a practical experiment

Imaging Cool Giant Planets in Reflected Light: Science Investigations and Synergy with Habitable Planets

Planned astronomical observatories of the 2020s will be capable of obtaining reflected light photometry and spectroscopy of cool extrasolar giant planets. Here we explain that such data are valuable both for understanding the origin and evolution of giant planets as a whole and for preparing for the interpretation of similar datasets from potentially habitable extrasolar terrestrial planets in the decades to follow.Comment: Science white paper submitted to the Astro 2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics. Replace version to fix typo in co-signer name and add figure credit

Imaging Cool Giant Planets in Reflected Light: Science Investigations and Synergy with Habitable Planets

Planned astronomical observatories of the 2020s will be capable of obtaining reflected light photometry and spectroscopy of cool extrasolar giant planets. Here we explain that such data are valuable both for understanding the origin and evolution of giant planets as a whole and for preparing for the interpretation of similar datasets from potentially habitable extrasolar terrestrial planets in the decades to follow

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

USIC production of ¹³N for positron emission tomography applications

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (page [43]).Testing was performed on a data acquisition (DAQ) system that was built specifically to characterize a new ultracompact superconducting isochronous cyclotron (USIC) at MIT. A production model of Nitrogen-13 was validated by experiment at Massachusetts General Hospital. Both absolute and relative activity calculations were conducted utilizing an original MATLAB script; it is demonstrated that relative activity calculations are both more accurate and precise. The DAQ system limitations in terms of potential activity calculations were also explored. A saturation limit of 3500 coincident counts per second was calculated and validated, which sets a design criterion limit for future work. The potential for the USIC to be utilized in an active SNM interrogation role is also explored.by Shawn Fitzgerald.S.M