Managing R&D alliances within government: the "virtual agency" concept

The virtual agency concept is now used within the United States Government as an alliance approach to manage large research and development (R&D) processes across departments. This paper examines the history of the virtual agency concept and its important characteristics. The paper identifies the potential benefits and associated risks involved in managing R&D within a virtual agency. Three cases are examined where the virtual agency concept has been applied to R&D programs: the High Performance Computing and Communications initiative, the Next Generation Internet, and the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles. The case studies indicate that the R&D process is attempting to balance formal process controls with the agility to adapt rapidly to new research opportunities. Virtual agencies can be used to improve organizational efficiency, improve knowledge transfer, increase interoperability through standards, provide better alignment of agency missions with national policy, and introduce increased flexibility into the R&D process. At the same time, the virtual agency concept has major risks including inefficiencies due to organizational complexity, the danger of collective myopia, the problem of adopting standards too early, the difficulty of reaching objectives in a loose organizational structure, and the problem of properly balancing the tension between agency mission objectives and national policy agendas.     

On coordinating warehouse sizing, leasing and inventory policy

Organizations often fulfil their storage needs by supplementing their own warehouse with leased space, a scenario modeled here under the assumption of constant product demand. Closed-form formulae are obtained for the decision variables of interest, namely, the replenishment lot size and the warehouse size, as well as the amount of space to lease. Cost savings due to leasing are shown to have an upper bound of approximately 29% when the optimal warehouse capacity can be installed without restrictions (such as a budgetary constraint). A numerical example further indicates that leasing is significantly more beneficial when the warehouse size is tightly constrained, and that total costs are robust with respect to demand fluctuations.     

A correlation between attendance and grades in a first-year psychology class.

Performed a correlational analysis of attendance records and grades in a 1st-yr psychology class. 103 undergraduates were informed that the attendance records would not affect their grades in the course. A positive correlation was found between attendance and final grades in the course. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dirty bosons: Screening,inert layers and the Lifshitz tail

The stability of the condensate in the presence of a weakly random substrate is shown to be due to screening of the random potential by distortions of the condensate. However the depletion of the condensate and the speed of sound are both affected: increased and decreased respectively. In the case of strong potential fluctuations He atoms may be trapped (remnants of single-particle localisation in the form of Lifshitz tail states). The circumstances under which this gives a picture of the inert layer will be discussed, and a surprising relation to dissipative tunneling will be mentioned.     

Induction of Tertiary Phase Epileptiform Discharges after Postasphyxial Infusion of a Toll-Like Receptor 7 Agonist in Preterm Fetal Sheep

Background: Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists are key immunomodulatory factors that can markedly ameliorate or exacerbate hypoxic–ischemic brain injury. We recently demonstrated that central infusion of the TLR7 agonist Gardiquimod (GDQ) following asphyxia was highly neuroprotective after 3 days but not 7 days of recovery. We hypothesize that this apparent transient neuroprotection is associated with modulation of seizure-genic processes and hemodynamic control. Methods: Fetuses received sham asphyxia or asphyxia induced by umbilical cord occlusion (20.9 ± 0.5 min) and were monitored continuously for 7 days. GDQ 3.34 mg or vehicle were infused intracerebroventricularly from 1 to 4 h after asphyxia. Results: GDQ infusion was associated with sustained moderate hypertension that resolved after 72 h recovery. Electrophysiologically, GDQ infusion was associated with reduced number and burden of postasphyxial seizures in the first 18 h of recovery (p < 0.05). Subsequently, GDQ was associated with induction of slow rhythmic epileptiform discharges (EDs) from 72 to 96 h of recovery (p < 0.05 vs asphyxia + vehicle). The total burden of EDs was associated with reduced numbers of neurons in the caudate nucleus (r² = 0.61, p < 0.05) and CA1/2 hippocampal region (r² = 0.66, p < 0.05). Conclusion: These data demonstrate that TLR7 activation by GDQ modulated blood pressure and suppressed seizures in the early phase of postasphyxial recovery, with subsequent prolonged induction of epileptiform activity. Speculatively, this may reflect delayed loss of early protection or contribute to differential neuronal survival in subcortical regions.     

Brain mass estimation by head circumference and body mass methods in neonatal glycaemic modelling and control

Introduction

Hyperglycaemia is a common complication of stress and prematurity in extremely low-birth-weight infants. Model-based insulin therapy protocols have the ability to safely improve glycaemic control for this group. Estimating non-insulin-mediated brain glucose uptake by the central nervous system in these models is typically done using population-based body weight models, which may not be ideal.

Method

A head circumference-based model that separately treats small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) infants is compared to a body weight model in a retrospective analysis of 48 patients with a median birth weight of 750 g and median gestational age of 25 weeks. Estimated brain mass, model-based insulin sensitivity (S_I) profiles, and projected glycaemic control outcomes are investigated. SGA infants (5) are also analyzed as a separate cohort.

Results

Across the entire cohort, estimated brain mass deviated by a median 10% between models, with a per-patient median difference in S_I of 3.5%. For the SGA group, brain mass deviation was 42%, and per-patient S_I deviation 13.7%. In virtual trials, 87–93% of recommended insulin rates were equal or slightly reduced (Δ < 0.16 mU/h) under the head circumference method, while glycaemic control outcomes showed little change.

Conclusion

The results suggest that body weight methods are not as accurate as head circumference methods. Head circumference-based estimates may offer improved modelling accuracy and a small reduction in insulin administration, particularly for SGA infants.     

Particle-fluid heat transfer and dispersion in fluidised beds

The dynamic response of a gas fluidised bed has been measured for a range of particle sizes of lead glass ballotini and a range of particle Reynolds numbers. A dispersion model has been formulated that includes the effects of gas and particle mixing, fluid-to-particle heat transfer and intraparticle thermal conductivity, and the dynamic thermal response in theory has been found by solving the partial differential equations in the Laplace transform domain. The coefficient of thermal dispersion, the particle-to-fluid heat transfer coefficient and the intraparticle thermal conductivity have been found for the experimental response by non-linear regression. The coefficient of axial dispersion was found to be large and the particle to fluid heat transfer coefficients agreed with an established correlation for fixed and fluidised beds. The intraparticle thermal conductivity agreed with literature values for lead glass, the estimates showed no trend with flowrate, and the standard deviation of the estimate was three times smaller than the deviation found from similar experiments in fixed beds.     

A magnetically driven reciprocating probe for tokamak scrape-off layer measurements

A new in situ reciprocating probe system has been developed to provide scrape-off layer measurements in the Tore Supra tokamak. The probe motion is provided by the rotation of an energized coil in the tokamak magnetic field. Simple analytic approximations to the exact numerical model were used to identify the important parameters that govern the dynamics of the system, and optimize the coil geometry, the electrical circuit, and the stiffness of the retaining spring. The linear speed of the probe is directly proportional to the current induced by the coil's rotation; its integral gives the coil position, providing a means to implement real-time feedback control of the probe motion. Two probes were recently mounted on a movable outboard antenna protection limiter in Tore Supra and provided automatic measurements during the 2011 experimental campaign.     

Transmission electron microscopy study of a dental gallium alloy

Analytical transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies of a dental gallium alloy have been carried out. This commercial Ga alloy was made by triturating a Ag-Sn-Cu-rich alloy powder with a liquid Ga alloy containing Ga, In and Sn. Ga alloys are of increasing interest as an alternative to amalgam. The dental material studied in the present work was found to be a composite consisting of remaining, undissolved particles from the Ag-based alloy powder in a matrix of reaction products with the liquid Ga alloy. The phases in the matrix and the remaining Ag-based alloy particles have been identified by electron diffraction, high resolution electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. the following phases were identified: orthorhombic Ag₃Sn, cubic -Cu₉Ga₄, cubic Ag₉In₄, tetragonal -Sn and hexagonal Ag₂Ga. In addition to these well-known phases Ga-rich regions of Cu-Ga were observed consisting of an intergrowth of the tetragonal CuGa₂ and one of the cubic -Cu₉Ga₄ phases.