Employment for Veterans: Trends and Programs

[Excerpt] Veterans’ employment outcomes in the civilian sector are an issue of ongoing congressional interest. A number of programs currently exist to assist veterans in obtaining or training for civilian employment. There is regular congressional debate about expanding or otherwise amending these programs to better serve veterans. This report discusses veterans’ employment trends and programs. The first section presents data on veterans’ employment outcomes, identifying recent trends, and discussing issues to consider when interpreting veterans’ employment data. The following sections present brief discussions of existing programs that provide employment-related services to veterans. These services are divided into (1) general programs that are broadly available to veterans, (2) programs that target veterans with service-connected disabilities, and (3) competitive grant programs that provide additional employment-related services to veterans but may be limited in scope or availability. Notably, this report does not attempt to provide an exhaustive list of all programs that may assist veterans in the labor market nor does it attempt to provide comprehensive information on the programs it discusses. Instead, it aims to provide a broad overview of the largest employment- related programs as well as other initiatives that may inform future policy. For detailed information on each program, readers are encouraged to refer to the CRS reports or other sources that are referenced in each section

Dynamical evidence for a strong tidal interaction between the Milky Way and its satellite, Leo V

We present a chemodynamical analysis of the Leo~V dwarf galaxy, based on Keck II DEIMOS spectra of 8 member stars. We find a systemic velocity for the system of $\langle v_r\rangle = 170.9^{+ 2.1}_{-1.9}$kms$^{-1}$, and barely resolve a velocity dispersion for the system, with $\sigma_{vr} = 2.3^{+3.2}_{-1.6}$kms$^{-1}$, consistent with previous studies of Leo~V. The poorly resolved dispersion means we are unable to adequately constrain the dark matter content of Leo~V. We find an average metallicity for the dwarf of [Fe/H]$= -2.48\pm0.21$, and measure a significant spread in the iron abundance of its member stars, with $-3.1\le$[Fe/H]$\le-1.9$ dex, which cleanly identifies Leo~V as a dwarf galaxy that has been able to self-enrich its stellar population through extended star formation. Owing to the tentative photometric evidence for tidal substructure around Leo~V, we also investigate whether there is any evidence for tidal stripping or shocking of the system within its dynamics. We measure a significant velocity gradient across the system, of $\frac{{\rm d}v}{{\rm d}\chi} = -4.1^{+2.8}_{-2.6}$kms$^{-1}$ per arcmin (or $\frac{{\rm d}v}{{\rm d}\chi} = -71.9^{+50.8}_{-45.6}$kms$^{-1}$~kpc$^{-1}$), which points almost directly toward the Galactic centre. We argue that Leo~V is likely a dwarf on the brink of dissolution, having just barely survived a past encounter with the centre of the Milky Way.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Updated to include minor revisions from referee proces

Regional priorities for strengthening climate services for farmers in Africa and South Asia

This report captures a process of shared South-South learning and planning towards defining priorities for strengthening and scaling-up climate information and advisory services for agriculture and food security in West Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, and South Asia. The process began at the international workshop on “Scaling up Climate Services for Farmers in Africa and South Asia” (Saly, Senegal, December 2012), where participants collectively identified critical gaps in the design, delivery and effective use of climate services for smallholder agriculture; and self-organized into working groups to develop a set of priority actions for strengthening climate services for smallholder farming communities within and across regions in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Following up on a commitment made at the workshop, USAID and CCAFS partnered to develop a small grants program and sponsor a set of guided planning workshops to enable the working groups that emerged from the Saly workshop to further develop their visions, and obtain resources to begin to implement them. Expert working groups from all regions prioritized improving the scientific capacity of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) to develop location specific seasonal climate forecasts at the subnational scale, and enhancing institutional frameworks for collaboration between the different agencies involved in the production and communication of climate services. The Eastern and Southern Africa working group also emphasized the co-production with farmers of location-specific climate services, and the importance of assessing the added value of climate services for enhancing agricultural production and managing risk. The West Africa working group prioritized communications mechanisms for reaching marginalized groups, including rural radio and Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), and training farmers to access and use climate information. Building on the region’s existing strength in ICTs, the South Asia group emphasized efforts to identify appropriate ICT tools and build the capacity of smallholder farmers, women, poor and socially marginalized groups to access and utilize climate information services

Addition-substitution reactions of 2-thio-3-chloroacrylamides with carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and selenium nucleophiles

Synthetically versatile conjugate addition of a range of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and selenium nucleophiles to the highly functionalised 2-thio-3-chloroacrylamides is described. The stereochemical and synthetic features of this transformation are discussed in detail. In most instances, the nucleophile replaces the chloro substituent with retention of stereochemistry. With the oxygen nucleophiles, a second addition can occur leading to acetals, while with the nitrogen nucleophiles, E-Z isomerism occurs in the resulting enamine derivatives. The ratio of the E/Z isomers can be rationalised on the basis of the substituent and the level of oxidation

State Legislative Reactions to No Child Left Behind: Education Leaders in Three States

Abstract State Legislative Reactions to No Child Left Behind: Education Leaders in Three States This dissertation examines the historical background of federal regulations that have expanded over the past thirty years, and their impact on state legislative resistance to No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The federal government's involvement in public education offers an instructive opportunity for inquiry into cooperative federalism. State resistance to NCLB provides an example for study when considering state reactions to federal regulations and ensuing intergovernmental conflicts in regard to public education. This study focuses on legislative responses to NCLB, with reactions from legislators from Kansas, Missouri, and Colorado. The investigation is drawn from interviews conducted with state legislators from these three states. Some common threads emerged from the interviews and from a review of the related literature. One includes the question of the constitutionality of NCLB and a power struggle that exists in public education between various levels of government. In light of state challenges to NCLB legislation, a number of consistent factors of resistance were evidenced by the states. These state legislative reactions offer significant insight for challenges facing future public education federal legislation, and may be useful as a model of study for examining state reactions in the years ahead

The Joint Program Dilemma: Analyzing the Pervasive Role That Social Dilemmas Play in Undermining Acquisition Success

Tenth Annual Acquisition Research Symposium Acquisition ManagementExcerpt from the Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Acquisition Research Symposium Acquisition ManagementNaval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research ProgramPrepared for the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CANaval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research ProgramApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

C/EBPα is an essential collaborator in Hoxa9/Meis1-mediated leukemogenesis

Homeobox A9 (HOXA9) is a homeodomain-containing transcription factor that plays a key role in hematopoietic stem cell expansion and is commonly deregulated in human acute leukemias. A variety of upstream genetic alterations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) lead to overexpression of HOXA9, almost always in association with overexpression of its cofactor meis homeobox 1 (MEIS1) . A wide range of data suggests that HOXA9 and MEIS1 play a synergistic causative role in AML, although the molecular mechanisms leading to transformation by HOXA9 and MEIS1 remain elusive. In this study, we identify CCAAT/enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBPα) as a critical collaborator required for Hoxa9/Meis1-mediated leukemogenesis. We show that C/EBPα is required for the proliferation of Hoxa9/Meis1-transformed cells in culture and that loss of C/EBPα greatly improves survival in both primary and secondary murine models of Hoxa9/Meis1-induced leukemia. Over 50% of Hoxa9 genome-wide binding sites are cobound by C/EBPα, which coregulates a number of downstream target genes involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation. Finally, we show that Hoxa9 represses the locus of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors Cdkn2a/b in concert with C/EBPα to overcome a block in G1 cell cycle progression. Together, our results suggest a previously unidentified role for C/EBPα in maintaining the proliferation required for Hoxa9/Meis1-mediated leukemogenesis

A Drosophila functional evaluation of candidates from human genome-wide association studies of type 2 diabetes and related metabolic traits identifies tissue-specific roles for dHHEX

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identify regions of the genome that are associated with particular traits, but do not typically identify specific causative genetic elements. For example, while a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and related traits have been identified by human GWAS, only a few genes have functional evidence to support or to rule out a role in cellular metabolism or dietary interactions. Here, we use a recently developed Drosophila model in which high-sucrose feeding induces phenotypes similar to T2D to assess orthologs of human GWAS-identified candidate genes for risk of T2D and related traits. RESULTS: Disrupting orthologs of certain T2D candidate genes (HHEX, THADA, PPARG, KCNJ11) led to sucrose-dependent toxicity. Tissue-specific knockdown of the HHEX ortholog dHHEX (CG7056) directed metabolic defects and enhanced lethality; for example, fat-body-specific loss of dHHEX led to increased hemolymph glucose and reduced insulin sensitivity. CONCLUSION: Candidate genes identified in human genetic studies of metabolic traits can be prioritized and functionally characterized using a simple Drosophila approach. To our knowledge, this is the first large-scale effort to study the functional interaction between GWAS-identified candidate genes and an environmental risk factor such as diet in a model organism system

The Third Swift Burst Alert Telescope Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog

To date, the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) onboard Swift has detected ~ 1000 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), of which ~ 360 GRBs have redshift measurements, ranging from z = 0.03 to z = 9.38. We present the analyses of the BAT-detected GRBs for the past ~ 11 years up through GRB151027B. We report summaries of both the temporal and spectral analyses of the GRB characteristics using event data (i.e., data for each photon within approximately 250 s before and 950 s after the BAT trigger time), and discuss the instrumental sensitivity and selection effects of GRB detections. We also explore the GRB properties with redshift when possible. The result summaries and data products are available at http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/results/batgrbcat/index.html . In addition, we perform searches for GRB emissions before or after the event data using the BAT survey data. We estimate the false detection rate to be only one false detection in this sample. There are 15 ultra-long GRBs (~ 2% of the BAT GRBs) in this search with confirmed emission beyond ~ 1000 s of event data, and only two GRBs (GRB100316D and GRB101024A) with detections in the survey data prior to the starting of event data. (Some figures shown here are in lower resolution due to the size limit on arXiv. The full resolution version can be found at http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/results/batgrbcat/3rdBATcatalog.pdf )Comment: 110 pages, 35 figures, accepted for publication on ApJ

Supplemental Information For: Asymmetric Distribution of Lunar Impact Basins Caused by Variations in Target Properties

Maps of crustal thickness derived from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission revealed more large impact basins on the nearside hemisphere of the Moon than on its farside. The enrichment in heat-producing elements and prolonged volcanic activity on the lunar nearside hemisphere indicate that the temperature of the nearside crust and uppermantle was hotter than that of the farside at the time of basin formation. Using the iSALE-2D hydrocode to model impact basin formation, we found that impacts on the hotter nearside would have formed basins up to two times larger than similar impacts on the cooler farside hemisphere. The size distribution of lunar impact basins is thus not representative of the earliest inner Solar system impact bombardmen