Imaging-Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) provide insights into a number of open questions in high energy physics, astroparticle physics, and cosmology. However, due to the indirect detection ...methods necessary to observe TeV gamma rays, the systematic and statistical errors produce a broad energy resolution of about 15-20% during analysis. Therefore, investigating and characterizing systematics of IACTs is necessary for producing accurate measurements. This thesis presents an analysis technique developed to characterize VERITAS systematics at TeV energies on blazar spectra arising from saturation of the electronics. The application of this analysis method to two epochs of data from the Crab Nebula, extending above 20 TeV, determined minimal systematic effects from saturation. Instead, the analysis showed bias arising primarily from the choice of low gain ratio, which lead to further investigation of the correct value to apply for the low gain ratio during analysis. With correct values of the low gain ratio applied, the systematic bias from saturation of the electronics is less than statistical errors out to energies greater than 20 TeV. Finally, analysis of five blazar spectra extending to multi-TeV energies is presented, with both the nominal low gain ratios and the low gain ratios as determined in this thesis. The updated low gain ratio values demonstrate improved energy reconstruction in a VERITAS analysis, leading to more precise spectral reconstruction with low systematic bias from saturation of the electronics.
This work aims to investigate the systematic uncertainty in gamma-ray spectra arising from saturation effects from bright images reconstructed by VERITAS. The goal of the work is to improve or ...validate the energy resolution used for deriving gamma-ray spectra in the sub-TeV to multi-TeV energy regime with VERITAS. Saturation from multi-TeV gamma-ray events affects the image brightness used to reconstruct the energy of the primary gamma ray, and potentially biases the energy estimate. We discuss a method for investigating the energy resolution bias in these multi-TeV gamma-ray events by looking at showers with large core distances that do not saturate the cameras.
Leaders of the United States Department of Defense (DOD) have received criticism from Congress and the press regarding perceived mismanagement of defense contracts. In 1986, the President's Blue ...Ribbon Commission on Defense Management attributed many deficiencies in the defense acquisition process to the fact that the defense contract management workforce was undertrained and lacking in basic skills. In March 1988, government personnel managers sought to increase the skill level in the career field by revising the requirements for entry into the contract management career field by adding the requirement that potential entrants have a bachelors degree in business administration. This change in entry level requirements could have an effect on Professional Continuing Education (PCE) courses in defense contract management. Among the many challenges faced by adult educators at DOD schools which offer PCE courses in contract management is the challenge of developing curricula for a changing student population. Adult learners in PCE courses in defense contract management will be a mixture of business degreed and non-business degreed DOD employees. If participants in DOD contract management PCE courses have an educational background which facilitates learning the specific skills of contract management, one would expect them to have a high degree of success in PCE courses, as measured by course grades. In this study, the researcher sought to answer the question, "How well does a degree in business (undergraduate or graduate) predict the grade an adult learner receives in PCE courses in defense contract management?" Data were gathered from 528 adult learners in two PCE courses in defense contract management at the Air Force Institute of Technology from February through June 1989. Data analysis included univariate, bivariate, and multivariate procedures. Statistically significant differences in course grades were shown to exist between learners with college degrees and those without college degrees. Statistically significant differences did not exist between learners with business degrees and those with non-business degrees. Two variables, highest level of education and age, were shown to have predictive value with regard to grades in PCE courses in defense contract management.
Subcontracting is a foundational part of government contracting. This article discusses two important clauses related to subcontracting, the Competition in Subcontracting clause at Federal ...Acquisition Regulation (FAR ) 52.244-5 and the Subcontracts clause at FAR 52.244-2. Each clause is only a few paragraphs long, but they can have major implications for prime contractors, subcontractors, and government acquisition staff who monitor contract compliance. When prime contractors sign contracts containing these clauses, they need to understand the significance of their contractual responsibilities related to subcontracting. It is especially important for both prime contractors and subcontractors to understand these two clauses when entering into teaming arrangements before proposals are submitted. Reviewing the main points in this article can help to avoid noncompliance on the part of the prime contractor's team and prevent unrealistic expectations on the part of the suncontractors' teams.
In the literature on marketing in adult education there is much debate on the ethics of marketing educational programs; although many individuals have written about the potential negative impacts of ...big business and high-pressure advertising in education, others have viewed marketing as an acceptable process that attempts to establish mutually satisfying exchange relationships between those who provide and need services. The debate is continued in the literature devoted to market segmentation, in which the aggressive marketing style is contrasted to more balanced approaches to marketing. Much has been written about the marketing mix in adult education--a concept according to which marketing is a mix of price, place, promotion, and product. A great deal of the literature on market segmentation and market selection focuses on the fact that effective application of the marketing mix concept requires knowledge about the consumer and about the different ways in which markets are segmented (occupationally, demographically, geographically, and psychographically). The distinctions between and relative advantages of undifferentiated, differentiated, and concentrated marketing are also covered in the literature on market segmentation. Most of the literature on applications of marketing principles in adult education deals with marketing in nonprofit organizations, the importance of a marketing plan, and marketing as a change agent in adult education. (MN)
Organizational memberships in NCMA provide best value-- saving money and providing professional development opportunities, bringing contracts professionals together from industry and government, all ...to further the excellence in this important profession. Through NCMA organizational memberships, many companies and government activities have found a good value for a proven pathway to staff excellence. NCMA organizational memberships are designed for commercial or government organizations that purchase memberships for in or more of their employees. Organizational memberships cost less than regular individual memberships. The amount of the reduction depends on the number of memberships purchased. People with organizational memberships can register for NCMA training events at reduced member rates. One of the most important messages that an organizational membership sends to employees is that acquisition is an important function and a career field in which their personal development is important. The effect on employee morale was evident at one government activity that purchased organizational memberships for its contract management staff.
Cysteine can be specifically functionalized by a myriad of acid-base conjugation strategies for applications ranging from probing protein function to antibody-drug conjugates and proteomics. In ...contrast, selective ligation to the other sulfur-containing amino acid, methionine, has been precluded by its intrinsically weaker nucleophilicity. Here, we report a strategy for chemoselective methionine bioconjugation through redox reactivity, using oxaziridine-based reagents to achieve highly selective, rapid, and robust methionine labeling under a range of biocompatible reaction conditions. We highlight the broad utility of this conjugation method to enable precise addition of payloads to proteins, synthesis of antibody-drug conjugates, and identification of hyperreactive methionine residues in whole proteomes.
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