Welcome to USMA Athena
USMA Athena is a secure digital service managed by the United States Military Academy Library to make the work of USMA scholars freely available, while also ensuring these resources are organized to preserve the legacy of USMA scholarship. The mission of USMA Athena is to showcase the academic impact and intellectual capital that has become synonymous with the celebrated heritage of educational prowess attributed to the Long Gray Line. Scholarship submitted to USMA Athena benefits from added visibility and discoverability via Google Scholar in addition to the use of persistent URLs that will provide enduring access to the work over time.
Recent Submissions
Item The Iatrogenic Paradox: When Information Operations Undermine Strategic Objectives(Irregular Warfare Center, 2025-09)This paper examines the phenomenon of iatrogenic influence, information operations that unintentionally produce outcomes counter to their intended goals, and argues that the U.S. military’s current approach to information operations (IO) requires fundamental reassessment. Using the war in Afghanistan as the central case study, the paper demonstrates how two decades of military-led IO, despite tactical successes, contributed to strategic failure by inadvertently strengthening adversarial groups such as the Taliban. The analysis traces the historical evolution of both military and non-military U.S. influence capabilities, highlighting the longstanding dominance of civilian agencies in global information efforts and the limitations inherent to military-led campaigns, particularly regarding cultural understanding, credibility, and long-term engagement. The paper assesses structural gaps, organizational overlap, and the risks of information fratricide across the U.S. government. It concludes by recommending a refined, specialized military IO role focused on mission sets historically proven effective, such as surrender appeals, civilian non-interference messaging, and enemy demoralization, while shifting broader influence responsibilities back to civilian organizations with the expertise and longevity required for strategic impact. These recommendations aim to reduce the risk of iatrogenic effects and enable a more integrated, precise, and sustainable national information strategy.Item Normative Peak Physical Activity Values for Monitor-Independent Movement Summary Units: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011–2014(Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 2025-08-13)Background: The most recent physical activity (PA) monitor data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were processed using a novel monitor-independent movement summary (MIMS) algorithm. To date, few studies have utilized these data, likely due to a general unfamiliarity with MIMS-related metrics. The purpose of this study was to establish normative values for peak MIMS metrics as measures of free-living PA intensity and natural ambulatory effort. Methods: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011–2012 and 2013–2014 survey cycles were used, including 8729 individuals aged 20–80+ years. MIMS data were obtained from wrist-worn accelerometers worn for at least 1 valid day (<5% nonwear time per day). Peak-1MIMS (ie, the highest 1-min MIMS value within a day) and Peak-30MIMS (ie, the average of the 30 highest 1-min MIMS values) were obtained, averaged across all valid days, and reported as sample-weighted means (95% confidence intervals), and across 5th to 95th percentiles. Results: Mean (95% confidence interval) values for Peak-1MIMS and Peak-30MIMS were 59.9 (59.2–61.6) and 42.9 (42.4–43.3) MIMS/minute, respectively. Both peak metrics declined across the adult lifespan. Men displayed greater Peak-1MIMS, while Peak-30MIMS was similar between sexes. Both MIMS metrics trended lower with increasing body mass index. Conclusion: We provide normative values for peak MIMS metrics which reflect PA intensity/effort. We also developed an R-Shiny App whereby users can input age, sex, body mass index category, and MIMS metrics to determine individual-specific MIMS percentile values. Given the universal nature of the MIMS algorithm, these population representative data may be useful as a reference data set for device-based PA surveillance within the United States and for comparison globally.Item Estimating days needed for dietary assessment in pregnancy: a modeling study(American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2026-02-21)Background Dietary assessment is essential for understanding associations between diet and health. The number of days of dietary data collection must account for high variation in daily intakes, while balancing accuracy with participant burden. Although several methods exist for determining the optimal amount, few have been applied to pregnancy. Objectives This study aimed to algorithmically determine the number of days needed to accurately estimate key dietary characteristics: energy, macronutrients, macronutrient density, diet quality, and intake timing during pregnancy. Methods We analyzed dietary data from 147 pregnant individuals in the Temporal Research in Eating, Nutrition, and Diet during Pregnancy study. Each participant provided ≤28 d of image-based dietary records to determine nutrients. Using mixed-effects models and assuming the only source of error is day-to-day variation in diet, we calculated the number of days required for the correlation between estimated and true intake to be 0.90 (NR) and for estimated intake to be within 20% of true intake (NC) for: energy, absolute macronutrients, macronutrient density, healthy eating index 2020 score (HEI 2020), and intake timing. Using bootstrapping, we extended NC into a probabilistic framework linking methodological choices to practical consequences. Results Within-person coefficient of variation (CVW) exceeded between-person coefficient of variation (CVB) for all characteristics, with fat (g) having the largest difference (CVW = 40.6; CVB = 26.2). Macronutrients required the most days to estimate usual absolute intake (fat: 17 d), whereas macronutrient density (% calories from fat: 5 d), HEI 2020 (5 d), and intake timing (2–6 d) required fewer. Individual-level analysis showed that cohort-based estimates underestimated the number of days needed for accurate assessment, as only 56% of participants met the cohort-level requirement for HEI. Conclusions We provide a new approach to estimating required dietary days to inform future study design. Existing studies may be underpowered, and cohort estimates may overstate individual-level accuracy.Item Food-Specific Morning and Night Intake Scores Are Associated with Impaired Glucose Tolerance during Pregnancy(The Journal of Nutrition, 2025-10-12)Background: Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) during pregnancy is associated with numerous short- and long-term adverse health outcomes. Diet is a key factor influencing glucose tolerance, yet there are little data on the relationship between specific foods or intake timing and IGT. Objectives: We examined whether food category intakes and their timing are associated with IGT. Methods: We used data from the temporal research in eating, nutrition, and diet during pregnancy study, which recruited 144 pregnant persons at gestational age <18 wk. Participants provided ≤28 d of food records (before and after photos for each eating occasion and text notes), and access to their electronic health records (EHR). We introduced morning and night intake scores (weighted measures reflecting the proportion of intakes consumed during nocturnal or morning periods) that incorporate exact intake timing rather than using a single threshold. We used logistic regression to estimate associations [odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI)] between temporal intake features and IGT (determined from EHR laboratory results), controlling for diet quality, age, total daily energy intake, physical activity, and prepregnancy body mass index, and conducted sensitivity analysis. Results: We found a significant positive association between mean daily red meat intake and IGT (OR = 3.68, 95% CI: 1.68, 8.75), and a negative association with IGT for night egg intake (OR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.93, 0.98). These associations remained after sensitivity analysis. Associations between macronutrient and energy intake and IGT were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Our novel approach to modeling intake timing uncovered a new negative association between night egg intake and IGT, and a positive association between red meat intake and IGT. Macronutrient and energy intake were not significant predictors of IGT, showing the importance of capturing specific food intake and timing. Future research is needed to determine if these observed associations are causally linked to IGT.Item The MIROR Journal: Managing Insider Risk and Organizational Resilience- Call for Papers & Back Matter(West Point Press, 2024)Call for Papers and other Back Matter for the 2024 issue of The MIROR Journal.
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