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The article focuses on a legal case involving Green & Clean Energy Corporation's appeal against the Department of Energy's decision regarding the recoupment of certain costs under their contract. It examines the constitutionality of the appointment process of the Administrative Judges (AJs) at the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (Board) under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.

This paper considers the use of spatio-temporal adaptive array processing in over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) and airborne radar applications in order to remove nonstationary multipath interference, known as 'hot clutter.' Since the spatio-temporal properties of hot clutter cannot be assumed constant over the coherent processing interval (CPI), conventional adaptive techniques fail to provide effective hot-clutter mitigation without simultaneously degrading the properties of the backscattered radar signals, known as 'cold clutter.' The approach presented incorporates multiple 'stochastic' (data-dependent) constraints to achieve effective hot-clutter suppression, while maintaining distortionless output cold-clutter post-processing stationarity.

Susac syndrome is a rare condition characterised by the clinical triad of encephalopathy, branch retinal artery occlusion, and sensorineural hearing loss. Of the few published cases, there is variability with regard to cognitive outcome. We describe the clinical course and neuropsychological performance of a 21-year-old male patient presenting with severe encephalopathy and later developing the full triad fulfilling the diagnosis of Susac syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the use of 'stochastically constrained' spatial and spatio-temporal adaptive processing in multimode nonstationary interference ('hot clutter') mitigation for scenarios that do not allow access to a group of range cells that are free from the backscattered sea/terrain signal ('cold clutter'). Since supervised training methods for interference covariance matrix estimation using the cold-clutter-free ranges are inappropriate in this case, we introduce and analyze adaptive routines which can operate on range cells containing a mixture of hot and cold clutter and possible targets (unsupervised training samples). Theoretical and simulation results are complemented by surface-wave over-the-horizon data processing, recently collected during experimental trials in northern Australia.

In this paper, we present a new array calibration procedure for over-the-horizon (OTH) radar, using disparate sources. Unlike previous array calibration methods, which require a specific type or class of sources for calibrating the array, the method we propose can use combinations of singlemode, multimode, and near-field sources; each source with either known or unknown DOA's (directions-of-arrival). Multidimensional MUSIC is exploited for time-invariant DOA sources, while single-snapshot techniques are used for sources that have time-varying DOA's. A nonlinear separable least-squares solution to the array calibration problem is used to estimate the array coupling matrix and sensor positions. Simulation results indicate that good estimates are obtained for the unknown parameters and further the array sidelobe levels and bearing errors are significantly reduced when these estimated parameters are used in array processing. The algorithm performance was also compared with the Cramer-Rao lower bound and found to be statistically efficient. Index Terms - Array calibration, Cramer-Rao lower bound, Jindalee, meteors, OTH radar.

HF skywave 'over-the-horizon' radars experience exceptionally high levels of clutter from the earth's surface as a consequence of their 'look-down' propagation geometry. While Doppler processing is effective in separating aircraft echoes from the clutter, thereby enabling detection, the same does not always hold for slow moving targets. In particular, ship echoes occupy the same region of Doppler space as the sea clutter, so the likelihood of target echo obscuration is high. By exploiting the known dependence of the characteristic spectral form of the clutter Doppler spectrum on radar frequency and other parameters, HF radars can maximise the prospects for detectability against particular ranges of target parameters. Nevertheless, even assuming that a radar makes use of all available a priori knowledge to optimise its parameters, small ships and boats often escape detection because their echoes are still masked by clutter in the same Doppler subspace. This is particularly likely to occur if the vessels concerned wish to remain undetected, and hence use the properties of sea clutter to their advantage. In this paper we examine the feasibility of a novel approach to the problem of detection against sea clutter detection via nonlinear scattering mechanisms. The nonlinear scatterers of concern here include electronic systems as well as metal-oxide-metal junctions formed by corrosion in the marine environment. This so-called 'rusty bolt' effect has previously been considered in the context of electromagnetic compatibility of communication systems. Here we explore the possibility of exploiting it to achieve a form of 'clutter-free' radar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine whether field photodynamic therapy (PDT) of actinic keratoses (AKs) using a novel preparation of 5-aminolevulonic acid (ALA) would result in fewer subsequent invasive skin cancers developing on the face., Design: A prospective multi-center randomized controlled trial. The protocol was approved by the Bond University Human Research Ethics Committee in accord with the TGA's Clinical Trial Notification Scheme. The trial was registered (12609000025235) on the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry., Setting: Six centers in four states in Australia., Protocol: Two treatments of ALA PDT, 2 weeks apart for each patient. Controls were observed. Patients were followed up with biopsies of any suspicious lesions every 6 months for 2 years., Main Outcome Measure(s): Development of new skin cancers., Results: The trial was suspended after 3 months and closed after 6 months after ethics committee approval was withdrawn on the basis of a breakdown in trial governance. Over the following 2 years, some investigators noted and formally reported the continued occurrence of serious adverse events in excess of those described with other approved cutaneous PDT treatments. USA dermatologists with experience managing AKs with FDA approved ALA products subsequently confirmed prolonged and severe adverse events in 6 of the former trial intervention patients., Discussion and Conclusions: Adverse effects experienced by patients using the investigational ALA PDT appeared more severe than those experienced when an FDA-approved ALA product is used. We believe the former should be further evaluated for safety. It is of concern that this ALA product and lamp could be promoted and used widely in Australia following these reports of significant adverse events and continued lack of TGA approval.