Extensive Background Research Articles

읽기 능력 우수 고등학생의 읽기에 대한 인식적 특성 분석

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze the cognitive, deterministic, and environmental characteristics of high school students with excellent reading comprehension skills, and to obtain information on improving reading comprehension.
 Methods To that end, out of 16 high school students in Gangwon Province, 16 who had proven excellent reading comprehension were interviewed individually. The interview consisted of answers to a total of 28 questions classified into cognitive, deterministic, and environmental factors related to reading.
 Results First, high school students with good reading skills were adept at using reading strategies and demonstrated superior achievement based on extensive vocabulary and background knowledge, but perceived reading categories somewhat restrictedly. Second, it was found that high school students with excellent reading ability had positively formed reading attitude, reading motivation, and reading efficacy, which are factors of reading justice, and that these showed a static correlation with reading ability. Third, it was found that the rich home literacy environment of high school students with excellent reading ability had a positive effect on the development of reading ability.
 Conclusions Reading comprehension is comprehensively developed under the influence of cognitive, deterministic and environmental factors. In order to develop students with excellent reading comprehension, there should be a comprehensive approach to the development of defining elements and the improvement of the literacy environment, without being biased toward cognition.

Blockchain Application in Healthcare Systems: A Review

In the recent years, blockchain technology has gained significant attention in the healthcare sector. It has the potential to alleviate a wide variety of major difficulties in electronic health record systems. This study presents an elaborate overview of the existing research works on blockchain applications in the healthcare industry. This paper evaluates 144 articles that discuss the importance and limits of using blockchain technologies to improve healthcare operations. The objective is to demonstrate the technology’s potential uses and highlight the difficulties and possible sectors for future blockchain research in the healthcare domain. The paper starts with an extensive background study of blockchain and its features. Then, the paper focuses on providing an extensive literature review of the selected articles to highlight the current research themes in blockchain-based healthcare systems. After that, major application areas along with the solutions provided by blockchain in healthcare systems are pointed out. Finally, a discussion section provides insight into the limitations, challenges and future research directions.

Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Therapeutic Use of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Neuropsychiatric Disorders.

Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Therapeutic Use of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Neuropsychiatric Disorders.

Ageing, mid-career concerns and organizational citizenship across employees in pre-retirement perspective: A study on employee engagement hassles and implications for leadership style mediation in Indian middle-sized IT firms

“Age inclusive Employee engagement” as a research construct foresees an extensive research background. The HR practices and their probable mediation in shaping the work environment and respective sustainable engagement in Indian IT firms is a novel construct and needs extensive dimensional and theoretical exploration. Age derived employee engagement as organizational resource is a research attribute of latest intellectual discourses. The study explored the ageing, mid-career concerns and organizational citizenship across employee in pre-retirement perspective and examined the employee engagement hassles and implications for leadership style mediation in IT companies. The sample frame comprises the 722 employees working across middle sized IT companies in age group 20-40. The study is based on the perceptions of the individual who were part of software delivery team with aid of laptops, desktops or other similar digital assets. The study concluded statistically significant impact of leadership style on the age inclusive employee engagement in middle sized IT firms.

Online Omics Platform Expedites Industrial Application of Halomonas bluephagenesis TD1.0.

Multi-omic data mining has the potential to revolutionize synthetic biology especially in non-model organisms that have not been extensively studied. However, tangible engineering direction from computational analysis remains elusive due to the interpretability of large datasets and the difficulty in analysis for non-experts. New omics data are generated faster than our ability to use and analyse results effectively, resulting in strain development that proceeds through classic methods of trial-and-error without insight into complex cell dynamics. Here we introduce a user-friendly, interactive website hosting multi-omics data. Importantly, this new platform allows non-experts to explore questions in an industrially important chassis whose cellular dynamics are still largely unknown. The web platform contains a complete KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathway enrichment analysis derived from principal components analysis, an interactive bio-cluster heatmap analysis of genes, and the Halomonas TD1.0 genome-scale metabolic (GEM) model. As a case study of the effectiveness of this platform, we applied unsupervised machine learning to determine key differences between Halomonas bluephagenesis TD1.0 cultivated under varied conditions. Specifically, cell motility and flagella apparatus are identified to drive energy expenditure usage at different osmolarities, and predictions were verified experimentally using microscopy and fluorescence labelled flagella staining. As more omics projects are completed, this landing page will facilitate exploration and targeted engineering efforts of the robust, industrial chassis H bluephagenesis for researchers without extensive bioinformatics background.

Buoyancy Effects in the Peristaltic Flow of a Prandtl-Eyring Nanofluid with Slip Boundaries

The interaction of nanoparticles with a peristaltic flow is analyzed considering a Prandtl-Eyring fluid under various conditions, such as the presence of a heat source/sink and slip effects in channels with a curvature. This problem has extensive background links with various fields in medical science such as chemotherapy and more in general nanotechnology. A similarity transformation is used to turn the original balance equations into a set of ordinary differential equations, which are then integrated numerically. The investigation reveals that nanofluids have valuable thermal capabilitises.

Результаты агротехнических исследований по подсолнечнику в Крыму

The research was aimed at developing a scientifically justified cultivation technology for sunflower hybrids of domestic breeding, ensuring their high productivity and seed quality in the arid conditions of the Crimean Peninsula. In the contrasting weather conditions of the research years (2017-2021), the hybrids Signal (1.22 t/ha), Garant, and Sprint (1.18 t/ha) were notable in terms of yield. Hybrids Komandor, Garant, Sprint, and Gorstar (coefficient of ecological plastici-ty bi > 1) were distinguished as demanding to the agronomy level. The hybrid Kometa should be cultivated on an extensive background (coefficient of ecological plasticity bi < 1) to unlock its potential at minimum cost, and it was the most stable in terms of yield (stability index Ϭd2 = 0.48). The most unstable hybrid was Kommandor (stability coefficient Ϭd2 = 2.19). We formed the optimal parameters of the sunflower hybrid model for the conditions of the steppe zone of the peninsula. We established the influence pattern of water reserves in the soil before sowing, HTC and precipitation during the growing season, as well as the natural water availability of the cultivation zone on the sunflower yield depending on the plant density at different sowing dates. The sunflower hybrid Avangard should be sown in the beginning or end of April at a given density of 40-50 thousand plants/ha to guarantee a high yield (1.19-1.32 t/ha). We noted that the seed oil content did not depend on the plant density but decreased if the hybrid was sown late (from 45.2 to 41.6%). Due to the uncertain-ty of water availability during the growing season, it is advisable to sow the sunflower hybrid Fakel in April on two dates – one part in the beginning, and one part at the end of the month with a density of 40 thousand plants at harvesting time (1.35-1.39 t/ha). We noted that the oil content of sunflower seeds decreased at late sowing (from 45.2 to 40.8%) and did not depend on the plant density.

Tidy Data Neatly Resolves Mass-Spectrometry's Ragged Arrays

Mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful tool for measuring biomolecules, but the data produced is often difficult to handle computationally because it is stored as a ragged array. In R, this format is typically encoded in complex S4 objects built around environments, requiring an extensive background in R to perform even simple tasks. However, the adoption of tidy data [@wickham2014] provides an alternate data structure that is highly intuitive and works neatly with base R functions and common packages, as well as other programming languages. Here, we discuss the current state of R-based MS data processing, the convenience and challenges of integrating tidy data techniques into MS data processing, and present [RaMS](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=RaMS), a package that produces tidy representations of MS data.

Some Reflections on the 40th Anniversary of the War in the South Atlantic : Interview with Boris F. Martynov, Dr. of Sc. (Political Sciences), Professor, Head of the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy of Russia, MGIMO University. Interviewed by A. A. Eremin

The 40th anniversary of the British-Argentinian war in the South Atlantic is a proper time to speak about some unresolved regional questions. One of them is how are the results of that far-off conflict connected with the present-day realities? To answer it, we turned to a renowned specialist in the region of Latin America, Boris Fedorovich Martynov. His profound regional expertise and extensive academic background helped to establish some logical connections that explain unobvious links between the Malvinas war of 1982 and today’s regional troubles. According to Professor Martynov, it was then that the “solidarity” between the United States and Britain first manifested itself so openly, outlining the true position and priority (or the lack of it) for Latin American countries in the so-called “Western” world. In the course of the interview we came to the conclusion that the present state of international relations doesn’t allow to expect much as for a peaceful resolution of this conflict between Argentina and UK in short or medium term. At the same time, there remains some hope of growing solidarity of the Latin American countries with the Argentinian case, which could provide the country with an opportunity to reshape the current balance of power in the long run. This interview suggests that the crisis in the South Atlantic has had a significant impact on the current state of world politics and international law.

Galaxy Morphology Classification with DenseNet

Galaxy classification is crucial in astronomy, as galaxy types reveal information on how the galaxy was formed and evolved. While manually conducting the classification task requires extensive background knowledge and is time-consuming, deep learning algorithms provide a time-efficient and expedient way of accomplishing this task. Hence, this paper utilizes transfer learning from pre-trained CNN models and compares their performances on the Galaxy10 DECals Dataset. This paper applies opening operation, data augmentation, class weights, and learning rate decay to further improve the models’ performance. In our experiments, DenseNet121 outperforms the other models and achieved approximately 89% test-set accuracy within 30 minutes. The second best-performing model, EfficientNetV2S, takes double the time achieving 2.43% lower test set accuracy.

Primary Epithelioid Pulmonary Angiosarcoma with WAIHA and Thrombocytopenia: A Rare Association

Abstract Introduction/Objective Angiosarcomas accounts for approximately 1%-2% of sarcomas, particularly involving the deep soft tissue. As a subtype, primary epithelioid angiosarcoma is an extremely rare neoplasm. Herein, we present an unusual primary epithelioid angiosarcoma of the right upper lung lobe with multiple nodal and bony metastases and associated severe form of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (WAIHA) and thrombocytopenia. Methods/Case Report Our case is a 79-year-old female with a recent onset of warm type autoimmune hemolytic anemia with positive coombs test and thrombocytopenia. The patient serum was also positive for EBV (IgG and IgM). On chest CT scan, a right upper lobe, metabolically active lung mass with mediastinal lymphadenopathy was found. Metabolically active bilateral osseous lesions identified within thoracic spine, ribs, bilateral humeri and femurs. A transbronchial core biopsy of the lung mass revealed poorly differentiated epithelioid hemorrhagic neoplasm with extensive necrosis and vascular background. The tumor cells are positive for AE1/AE3, CK7, FLI-1, BRG1 (SMARCA4, retained), and vimentin; and faint weak focal membranous staining for CD31, Factor VIII, and ERG. They are negative for CK20, TTF-1, Napsin-A, p63, p40, SMA, Melan-A, HMB45, GATA3, PAX-8, CDX-2, HepPar, synaptophysin, calretinin, CAMTA1, EBER (EBV) and S100 (Figure-1-A-D, H&E, 10X, CK AE2/AE3, FLI-1, CD31). This immunoprofile and histologic features favor epithelioid angiosarcoma. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) NA. Conclusion Comprehensive morphological and immunohistochemical findings supported the diagnosis of epithelioid angiosarcoma. The importance of reporting this case was the unusual pulmonary primary presentation, associated nodal and osseous secondary involvement, together with the unique systemic presentation with warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia in a patient with active EBV infection.

4-component relativistic Hamiltonian with effective QED potentials for molecular calculations.

We report the implementation of effective quantum electrodynamics (QED) potentials for all-electron four-component relativistic molecular calculations using the DIRAC code. The potentials are also available for two-component calculations, being properly picture-change transformed. The latter point is important; we demonstrate through atomic calculations that picture-change errors are sizable. Specifically, we have implemented the Uehling potential [E. A. Uehling, Phys. Rev. 48, 55 (1935)] for vacuum polarization and two effective potentials [P. Pyykkö and L.-B. Zhao, J. Phys. B: At., Mol. Opt. Phys. 36, 1469 (2003) and V. V. Flambaum and J. S. M. Ginges, Phys. Rev. A 72, 052115 (2005)] for electron self-energy. We provide extensive theoretical background for these potentials, hopefully reaching an audience beyond QED specialists. We report the following sample applications: (i) We first confirm the conjecture of P. Pyykkö that QED effects are observable for the AuCN molecule by directly calculating ground-state rotational constants B0 of the three isotopomers studied by microwave spectroscopy; QED brings the corresponding substitution Au-C bond length rs from 0.23 to 0.04pm agreement with experiment. (ii) In regard to spectroscopic constants of van der Waals dimers M2 (M = Hg, Rn, Cn, Og), QED induces bond length expansions on the order of 0.15(0.30) pm for row 6(7) dimers. (iii) We confirm that there is a significant change of valence s population of Pb in the reaction PbH4 → PbH2 + H2, which is thereby a good candidate for observing QED effects in chemical reactions, as proposed in [K. G. Dyall et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 348, 497 (2001)]. We also find that whereas in PbH4 the valence 6s1/2 population resides in bonding orbitals, it is mainly found in nonbonding orbitals in PbH2. QED contributes 0.32 kcal/mol to the reaction energy, thereby reducing its magnitude by -1.27%. For corresponding hydrides of superheavy flerovium, the electronic structures are quite similar. Interestingly, the QED contribution to the reaction energy is of quite similar magnitude (0.35 kcal/mol), whereas the relative change is significantly smaller (-0.50%). This curious observation can be explained by the faster increase in negative vacuum polarization over positive electron self-energy contributions as a function of nuclear charge.

Islamic crowdfunding practices in Malaysia: a case study on Nusa Kapital

PurposeIslamic crowdfunding, an alternative way to finance social projects, is a new development in Malaysia. Little is known about its operation. This study aims to explore the practice of Nusa Kapital, the first Islamic crowdfunding platform in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a descriptive approach. The data was collected through document analysis and interviews with two officials of Nusa Kapital. The data gathered was analyzed through the thematic analysis technique.FindingsThis research discovered that Nusa Kapital was established considering the financing needs of the growing number of small medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. It uses the murabahah concept to make financing arrangements for entrepreneurs. Murabahah is a debt-based concept where the investors, instead of giving cash to the entrepreneurs, purchase an asset and sell it to them at a cost-plus profit. The Securities Commission Malaysia (SCM) regulates the crowdfunding operation of Nusa Kapital, which sets guidelines for the different types of investors, entrepreneurs and platforms. Nusa Kapital conducts an extensive background check of the company for its creditworthiness and takes the necessary measures for the transparency of the project's operation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has unique implications for the regulatory authorities and practitioners in Malaysia and global industries. The study explored the practical scenario of the crowdfunding institution, which will be beneficial for similar industries within and outside of the country.Originality/valueWhile previous literature provides a theoretical discussion of Islamic crowdfunding, this study contributes to the body of knowledge by demonstrating its practice.

Using Distribution of Relaxation Times Analysis to Explore Overpotentials in Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers Utilizing Sintered Metal and Fibrous Titanium Porous Transport Layers

Proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs) show potential for the clean production of renewable and high-purity hydrogen. [1] The widespread implementation of PEMWE usage faces performance and economic hurdles. In order to improve cell performance and durability, thus reducing capital cost, identifying and understanding the origins of performance losses is crucial. Overpotentials fall into three categories: ohmic, kinetic, and mass transport, which relate to various resistances within the cell during operation. Traditionally, electrochemical equivalent circuits (EEC) have been used to analyze electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for polarizing processes, but this tool requires extensive background knowledge of both electrochemical processes and circuits. The use of distribution of relaxation times (DRT) as an EIS analysis tool allows for the objective distinguishing of individual and distinct electrochemical processes within the cell that contribute to these overpotentials [2,3,4]. DRT as an EIS analysis tool allows for more comprehensive understanding and comparison of overpotential processes, especially between cells of varying configurations. Understanding overpotential origins will provide a pathway for mitigating performance restricting processes and developing better performing, more durable, and more cost-effective build configurations.In this work, several configurations of a single cell 25 cm2 PEMWE were tested. Cell performance using titanium fiber porous transport layers (PTLs) is compared against the use of sintered titanium PTLs, in both unplated and plated configurations. Four PEMWE cells were built using Bekaert unplated and plated titanium fiber PTLs, and Mott 20 mil unplated and plated sintered titanium PTLs. Results show good cell performance. DRT analysis of diagnostic data allows for the objective identification, discussion, and comparison of overpotential contributions.

Autologous versus allogeneic: the future of manufacturing and standardization in cell therapies

Rupa Pike, PhD is the Senior Director of Technical Affairs for Advanced Therapies, Pharma Services Group at Thermo Fisher Scientific. The Office of Technical Affairs comprises scientific experts that serve as a strategic, innovational and educational leaders in the area of cell-based therapies, plasmids and mRNA therapeutics. In her prior role as the Director of Enterprise Science and Innovation Partnerships, she developed and managed strategic partnerships with global BioPharma, Biotech and Healthcare customers in the area of Cell and Gene Therapy. Prior to this, she was the Head of Technical Operations (Patheon/Thermo Fisher Scientific) where she worked closely with customers to conduct technology transfer and process optimization activities related to GMP manufacturing of cell-based therapies. She has over 15 years of expertise in GMP manufacturing and has successfully led GMP operations, Process Development and MSAT activities, infrastructure buildout, customer relations and business development.Delara Motlagh, PhD the General Manager of Cell Therapy Technologies at Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies, headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado. She is passionate about the cell & gene therapy market and the potential these innovative therapies hold to improve the lives of patients.She brings more than 18 years of experience in biotechnology and healthcare in various therapeutic areas including oncology, cardiology, orthopedics, hematology, and nephrology. Prior to joining Terumo Blood and Cell Therapies in 2017, Delara served in diverse leadership roles at Baxter Healthcare in marketing, research & development, and operations. Her cross-functional background provides a unique perspective and deep understanding of development, cell manufacturing, and commercialization elements in the industry. Delara received a PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Illinois, fellowship in Vascular Tissue Engineering at Northwestern University, and Executive MBA from Kellogg School of Management.Patrick Hanley, PhD is the Chief and Director of the Cellular Therapy Program and an associate professor of pediatrics at Children’s National Hospital and the George Washington University, respectively. He oversees processing for standard of care stem cell transplantation as well as the development, manufacture, quality, and testing of novel cellular therapies and is responsible for seeking partnerships and commercialization of promising cell and gene therapies. Trained as an Immunologist, Dr Hanley has an extensive background and interest in cellular therapy and is passionate about improving regulations for cellular therapy, training the next generation of cell therapists, and facilitating the translation of new therapeutics. Over the past 15 years he has helped to translate more than 300 products on over 25 cell therapy protocols – ranging from mesenchymal stromal cells to cord blood virus-specific T cells and tumor-associated antigen specific T cells – into the clinic.

EmAtlas: a comprehensive atlas for exploring spatiotemporal activation in mammalian embryogenesis.

The emerging importance of embryonic development research rapidly increases the volume for a professional resource related to multi-omics data. However, the lack of global embryogenesis repository and systematic analysis tools limits the preceding in stem cell research, human congenital diseases and assisted reproduction. Here, we developed the EmAtlas, which collects the most comprehensive multi-omics data and provides multi-scale tools to explore spatiotemporal activation during mammalian embryogenesis. EmAtlas contains data on multiple types of gene expression, chromatin accessibility, DNA methylation, nucleosome occupancy, histone modifications, and transcription factors, which displays the complete spatiotemporal landscape in mouse and human across several time points, involving gametogenesis, preimplantation, even fetus and neonate, and each tissue involves various cell types. To characterize signatures involved in the tissue, cell, genome, gene and protein levels during mammalian embryogenesis, analysis tools on these five scales were developed. Additionally, we proposed EmRanger to deliver extensive development-related biological background annotations. Users can utilize these tools to analyze, browse, visualize, and download data owing to the user-friendly interface. EmAtlas is freely accessible at http://bioinfor.imu.edu.cn/ematlas.

Application of machine-learned metadata-driven model for dairy barn ventilation simulation

As US dairy operations consolidate to meet an increasing demand for dairy products, dairy producers have begun to seek more economically efficient dairy-barn designs and ventilation systems to combat the pernicious effects of heat stress. The metabolic changes that heat stress induces not only put the animals at risk of serious illness but also diminish the herd’s productivity. Lactation, being a metabolic process, generates a great deal of body heat thereby increasing the risk of heat stress during warm weather, and that risk increases when the animals commingle in an enclosed space. For this reason, predicting heat stress and estimating its severity have taken on special importance. Recently, producers and barn builders have contended with the conditions that promote heat stress by implementing closed mechanical ventilation systems. However, if a proposed ventilation system’s performance was not accurately predicted, the system would not work effectively or efficiently. The traditional ways of assessing ventilation performance, which involved either hand-held sensors or stationery sensing monitors, tended to be time-consuming and the larger the barn the more labor-intensive. Additionally, the complex microenvironmental system that exists inside a dairy barn is further complicated by the myriad moving elements, both animals and operational machines. Given these complicating parameters, researchers have lately turned to computation fluid dynamics (CFD) when analyzing such environments because, once properly validated, CFD can accurately predict the heat and mass transfer occurring at any location inside a computer-generated model of a dairy barn. However, operating CFD correctly requires not only an extensive background knowledge and a significant amount of hands-on experience, but also high-end hardware, which is often unavailable to dairy operators and non-CFD--experts. This study proposed CFD-ML, a machine-learning (ML) based “simulator,” as a means to achieving computational predictions that are accurate enough to use as a basis for dairy-barn design. A convolutional neural network (CNN), a representative ML model, allows complex mapping between input barn geometry and the velocity and temperature fields occurring in the barn, resulting in faster prediction time and simpler usage processes. As a result, the CFD-ML model can achieve outcomes comparable to those obtained using CFD, with R2 values greater than 0.85, in far less computing time required by CFD. This finding should provide a foundation that could facilitate future CFD-ML advances in dairy science research as well as the development of a user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) that bypasses the complex CFD procedures.

Does board capital improve climate change disclosures?

Climate change is a global issue faced by many countries that cause enormous damage. This is the biggest challenge for a sustainable economy so firms have to mitigate the risk of climate change. Climate change disclosures can be a way for firms to gain legitimacy from stakeholders. The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of board capital on climate change disclosures. This study consists of 191 bank-year observations of banks listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2016–2020. Data were obtained from annual reports, sustainability reports, and company websites and were analyzed using regression. The results of the study show that board capital has a positive effect on climate change disclosures. This study examines the dimensions of board capital separately too consisting of networking, education, and experience owned by the board on climate change disclosures. The result shows that networking, education, and experience of the board have a positive effect on climate change disclosures. The board plays a significant role in disclosing information about climate change, so companies need to pay attention to the quality of the board. The board’s extensive network, higher education, and background experience will increase climate change disclosures.

A stochastic deep reinforcement learning agent for grid-friendly electric vehicle charging management

Electrification of the transportation sector provides several advantages in favor of climate protection and a shared economy. At the same time, the rapid growth of electric vehicles also demands innovative solutions to mitigate risks to the low-voltage network due to unpredictable charging patterns of electric vehicles. This article conceptualizes a stochastic reinforcement learning agent that learns the optimal policy for regulating the charging power. The optimization objective intends to reduce charging time, thus charging faster while minimizing the expected voltage violations in the distribution network. The problem is formulated as a two-stage optimization routine where the stochastic policy gradient agent predicts the boundary condition of the inner non-linear optimization problem. The results confirm the performance of the proposed architecture to control the charging power as intended. The article also provides extensive theoretical background and directions for future research in this discipline.

The American Army in Germany, 1918–1923: Success against the Odds by Dean A. Nowowiejski

Nowowiejski’s new book is, in his words, “an institutional history of the United States Army in Germany after World War I” (viii). Although the author notes that the army’s Rhineland occupation was an important precedent for its much more extensive occupation duties in various nations after World War II, he does not engage the literature written by political scientists on military government or on the military’s involvement in “stability operations” (4). This book instead employs the methods of social, administrative, and political history to draw a detailed portrait of the American army’s experience in its occupation zone centered on Coblenz from late 1918 to early 1923. Topics include the march of the Third Army into the U.S. zone in late 1918, where it largely demobilized and was replaced with new units designated as the American Forces in Germany (afg); the training, social, and recreational life of afg soldiers and officers; the administrative organization of the afg and its relations with the Germans under its jurisdiction; and the political and military activities of Maj. Gen. Henry T. Allen, who served as commander of the afg, military governor of the U.S. occupation zone, and the American representative to the Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission (iarhc).Nowowiejski emphasizes that Allen, the focus of much of the book’s narrative, was “a model commander and accomplished soldier-diplomat” (9). Uncommonly for American officers, Allen had an extensive background in political–military affairs, having served as the military attaché to Russia and to Germany, the military governor of Leyte in the Philippines, and a division commander in the World War. In the American occupation zone, Allen built a highly trained and disciplined force that garnered respect from both the Allies and the Germans. With the former, he upheld American prerogatives against French encroachments on the American zone; with the latter, “he acted in the role of benevolent military governor,” defending German rights under the Versailles Treaty and protecting German property (153). Often operating without instructions from Washington, he was an effective voice for 1920s-style American internationalism in the iarhc, working against French efforts to separate the Rhineland from German sovereignty while promoting U.S. business interests and Germany’s economic recovery from the war. To a remarkable degree, Nowowiejski argues, Allen succeeded in acting “as a balancer, protecting both the French and the Germans from their own extremes” (237).Given this argument, it is surprising that Nowowiejski spends relatively little time exploring exactly how Allen and the afg perceived and interacted with German politics. To be sure, he notes that the Americans largely relied upon the existing Prussian bureaucracy to administer civil affairs in the occupation zone and “refused to recognize the people’s committees or workmen’s councils that had taken local control during the German revolution” (149). But he is silent regarding Allen’s view of the resurgence of militaristic German nationalism after the publication of the Versailles Treaty and the rise of the “stab-in-the-back” myth explaining Germany’s defeat in the war, a central idea in German politics in the early 1920s. This is a significant issue to ignore, especially since these trends in German politics had much to do with Germany’s failure to meet its treaty obligations, including an obligation to pay the United States for the cost of the afg’s occupation of its Rhineland zone.Overall, however, this book is a useful and interesting overview of the United States Army’s inaugural effort to carry out a military occupation in Europe. Deeply researched and well-written, it contains a wealth of information sure to be helpful to any student of U.S. foreign and military policy in the early 1920s, as well as to social historians interested in ordinary American soldiers of the period.