Use of a Miniature Optical Engine for Age Classifying Wild-Caught Coquillettidia perturbans in the Shortwave Infrared Region.

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), coupled with modeling and chemometrics, has been used to age grade anopheline and aedine mosquitoes; however, NIRS has not been widely used in field studies to assign mosquitoes to age classes. One reason is the relative cost of NIRS spectrometers. We developed a spectrometer system incorporating a miniature optical engine generating spectra in the shortwave infrared region, calibrated it using laboratory-reared Aedes aegypti, and evaluated its utility to age grade wild-caught cattail mosquitoes, Coquillettidia perturbans.

The Role of Leadership and Peer Behaviors in the Performance and Well-Being of Women in Combat: Historical Perspectives, Unit Integration, and Family Issues.

This article analyzes how the behaviors of leaders and peers affect the performance and well-being of military women. Locating our analysis within the conceptual model in this issue, we summarize the empirical literature and make practice and policy recommendations. We synthesize results about unit integration, such as research on the conditions for successful integration of previously excluded groups and on the relationship between cohesion and performance.

The demographics of military children and families.

Since the advent of the all-volunteer force in the 1970s, marriage, parenthood, and family life have become commonplace in the U.S. military among enlisted personnel and officers alike, and military spouses and children now outnumber service members by a ratio of 1.

The military and the transition to adulthood.

Ryan Kelty, Meredith Kleykamp, and David Segal examine the effect of military service on the transition to adulthood. They highlight changes since World War II in the role of the military in the lives of young adults, focusing especially on how the move from a conscription to an all-volunteer military has changed the way military service affects youths' approach to adult responsibilities. The authors note that today's all-volunteer military is both career-oriented and family-oriented, and they show how the material and social support the military provides to young servicemen and women promotes responsible membership in family relationships and the wider community.

The "don't ask, don't tell" policy and military performance.

This paper is a response to Schumm's 2004 critique of Belkin's 2003 article, dealing with the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the U.S. military.