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The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. Captain Walker Mills’ timely opinion piece in The Hill, Navy’s Red Hill debacle is both a warning and an opportunity, is a reminder to CANA that what we do matters. We have been committed for several years to developing and promoting alternative energy capabilities aboard military installations and on future battlefields. The recent Red Hill fuel spill in Hawaii is unfortunate proof the time for change is now. Captain Mills’ comments about energy resilience remind us of the issue’s urgency, its global relevance, and its role as a lever of power: The overdue closure of Red Hill is also an opportunity for the United States to reevaluate its energy infrastructure in the Pacific. The military should invest in the energy resilience and efficiency of its facilities across the region, perhaps as part of the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, and look for alternative concepts for sustaining U.S. capability in the region. Over the last two decades, the U.S. military has quietly upgraded the energy resilience and efficiency of its bases with micro grids, solar power and other forms of alternative energy. How much more can be done to help reduce the demand for petroleum? Investments in alternative energy would be received well by U.S. partners in the region at a time when the U.S. is jockeying for influence in the Pacific…. At CANA, we’re deeply invested in the military - as veterans, as a small business, as Americans - and our work reflects that. Our partnership with the NavalX SoCal Tech Bridge supports energy innovation on military installations and the battlefield. We contribute to the research, development, and stakeholder engagement for electric and autonomous vehicles such as the eTHOR project - a mobile, modular, 5G ad hoc network capability on an electric platform that also supports exportable energy. We’re active participants in the SoCal Tech Bridge’s 5G Living Lab, Electric and Unmanned Living Lab, and Energy Resilience Living Lab aboard MCAS Miramar, that set the right conditions for experimentation, analysis, and investment into electric mobility innovation. CANA knows it takes more than talk to create meaningful change in how the nation and military sources and sustains its energy needs; we’re meeting the future now. If you’d like to contact Cherish Joostberns, CANA Media, you can reach Cherish at cjoostberns@canallc.com

Our Project and Program Management (PPM) and Business Operations (BusOps) teams recently met in person for a team-focused offsite in Haymarket, VA. We focused on information sharing and collaboration, leading to a greater understanding of our teams and their particular talents and challenges. On the first evening, our BusOps team met at a fantastic outdoor brewery for a thought-provoking discussion about their DiSC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness) Assessment profiles - a pro tool that CANA uses to dig into personal work styles and effective relationship building. This has been particularly important given our remote and virtual operating model. During our Day One Collaboratory, both teams spent the morning breaking the ice and using a campfire approach to get to know each other. After that, Senior Project Manager Hannah Wallace, Principal Program Manager Will Berry, and Principal AI Analyst Chris Cichy tag-teamed for an exciting deep dive into NextStrategy, our ongoing project in support of the Miramar, California - based NavalX SoCal Tech Bridge. We’re particularly excited for this upcoming year as we work with the Tech Bridge to bring innovative 5G services, autonomous and electric vehicles, and AI capabilities to the modern warfighter. We are seeking to continually improve our CANA business development and proposal process, so Senior Operations Manager Kenny McRostie next provided a refresher on the opportunity development process and management of the CANA tracking system. Hannah Wallace explained the work and effort a project lead must put into planning a project and understanding it from the top-down and bottom-up - it’s no easy task, but always easier when we share best practices. Our Digital Media Coordinator, Kassie McRostie, followed with a presentation on the CANA Foundation, its history, and a summary of the impact this give-back arm of CANA has had in the past five years. When Chris Cichy took the podium, he shared his CANA independent research and development project (IRAD) to use virtual gaming as a tool for product research, development, and marketing. It generated excellent questions and excitement (some of us need to invest in virtual real estate…now). Lead Graphic Artist Koa Beam then demonstrated the capabilities of our new Social Media hardware kit - a full complement of digital audiovisual equipment - that we anticipate will travel as widely as our CANA team! Day Two, we jumped into the CANA Deliverable Tracking System collaboration session, led by Senior Project Manager, Stephanie Allison. This was so timely - getting both teams' input, understanding, and buy-in to drive better solutions. With upcoming proposal efforts, we used our last hours to get the proposal team together for some outstanding, face-to-face, cowork. It was a great time collaborating and sharing. While the BusOps team had to say goodbye, the PPM team gathered for a little friendly competition and battled it out through ax-throwing and go-carts (but not at the same time!) before saying goodbye. Can’t wait for the next offsite! Connie McKissack is the Director of Programs & Project Management at CANA LLC. To reach out to her or for more information on CANA email her at cmckissack@canallc.com

There are almost four billion women with stories to tell here on planet Earth. That’s roughly half the world’s population. Yet, according to historical estimates, women are included in about 0.5% of recorded history. There’s a lot of catching up to do! Women always did make history and continue to do so. CANA is a part of that trajectory. Our thirteen women CANAers are intelligent, tenacious leaders. Each is, without a doubt, very much unique and brings a fresh perspective to our organization. One member of our team - Stephanie Allison, Senior Project Manager - is a CANAer of many talents and passions. We benefit from her project management skills as well as her singular personality: optimistic, energetic, and passionate. We wanted to close out March with her observations on Women’s History Month and how to carry that focus forward. “During Women's History Month, I reflect on those who came before us, paving the path for those of us who follow. As this month of recognition comes to an end, I encourage that in addition to reflecting on history, we also aim to make history. 2022’s Women's History Month carries the theme, "Providing Healing, Promoting Hope. Healing and hope have never been needed more than in our world today. Step up, lead the way, spread light in the lives of those around you to make a difference. Seek out those who are broken and allow your care and compassion to make them whole. Each of us have unique and amazing God-given gifts. Find them, use them, share them. Extend hope in a world that is hurting. Exude peace where there is pain. Mend division amidst dispute. You cannot pour from an empty cup. So, follow your dreams, look after yourself, take charge of your life, fill your soul! Then let all the joy you've created overflow throughout your families, workplaces, and neighborhoods. Rise to the challenge. "Make history!” " Stephanie is a Senior Project Manager here at CANA. You can contact Stephanie at sallison@canallc.com CANA LLC is a Veteran-Owned and Woman-Owned Company.

I was pleased to participate as a panelist in a lively discussion on AI Bias at the 6th annual Business Analytics Symposium on Thursday, March 3, 2022, hosted by The University of Texas at Arlington Center for Innovation and Digital Transformation. The theme of the conference was “Explainable and Unbiased AI – Going Beyond the Hype.” The in-person symposium provided a forum for industry professionals and academics to exchange information and knowledge in the area of analytics and AI. The event featured tech talks and engaging panels with prominent industry experts and an exciting tech workshop. The symposium had participants from over 50 companies from various industries represented, including CANA, American Airlines, Raytheon, Southwest Airlines, Lone Star, GM Financial, State Farm, Verizon, Ericsson, Infosys, and many others. The keynote speaker was Dr. Raj Iyer, Chief Information Officer, United States Army, who gave an update on the status of the Army’s recent AI and analytics efforts. I very much enjoyed the panel discussion and the various thought-provoking conversations I had on AI with many of the symposium’s attendees. I hope to keep this timely and important discussion going at next year’s symposium! Connor McLemore is one of our Principal Operations Research Analysts here at CANA. If you would like to contact Connor, you can reach him at cmclemore@canallc.com

Margaret Hauser, Ph.D. Senior Operations Research Analyst "Wherever you go, there you are" - Unknown Margaret joins the CANA team from a research associate position at the Naval Postgraduate School where she worked alongside faculty and students to support Navy and Marine Corps logistics and operations research. She earned a Ph.D. in Operations Research from North Carolina State University; her dissertation investigated the adoption of additive manufacturing for the mass customization of orthopedic implants. She also holds a Master’s degree in Engineering and Technology Management as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, both from Colorado School of Mines. Margaret brings breadth and depth of theoretical knowledge in modeling and optimization to generate applicable solutions for real-world problems. You can contact Margaret at mhauser@canallc.com or Linkedin.

Almost two months into 2022 and many of us probably still haven’t begun to tackle those New Year resolutions or maybe you began but have already given up. Motivation to get started on healthier habits can be hard to find and the commitment to stick with them is often just as challenging. So, how do we get on track? Why don’t we talk a little about this beautiful woman! You’re looking at Ernestine Shepherd. She is one of the world’s oldest female bodybuilders. Between the ages of 56 and 85 years old, Ernestine won two bodybuilding titles, ran nine marathons, worked as a personal trainer, professionally modeled, and instructed fitness classes for seniors. She attributes discipline, determination, and hard work as her secrets to success. Next time you need a little inspiration to get moving, think of Ernestine and remember it’s never too late to begin, always focus on progress, not perfection, and never ever give up! Learn more about Ernestine's achievements here: https://ernestineshepherd.net/?page_id=2 Stephanie is a Senior Project Manager here at CANA. You can contact Stephanie at sallison@canallc.com CANA LLC is a Veteran-Owned and Woman-Owned Company.

The story of Alice Ball is perfect for the 2022 Black History Month’s theme of Black Health and Wellness. Alice’s achievements as a Black chemist in the late 19th and early 20th century were extraordinary, even more so considering the social barriers and scientific limitations of the time. Her contribution to human medicine - the ‘Ball Method’ - was not really fully recognized until the late 1970s, over 60 years later and long after it had been co-opted by others. Alice Ball’s life is noteworthy in a number of ways. She achieved her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in pharmacy and chemistry, respectively, from the University of Hawaii in the early 1900s. She was the University’s (then, the College of Hawaii) first female and first Black graduate student. Her amazing upward trajectory continued when Alice was, in turn, made a chemistry professor at the school. Her studies of chaulmoogra tree oil resulted in the ‘Ball Method’ treatment for reducing symptoms of leprosy - a terrible and contagious disease that not only disfigured and killed people for centuries but also created populations of ‘lepers’ exiled from society. Hawaii was no exception and forced sufferers into a leper colony on the Kalaupapa peninsula of Molokai, Hawaii, until, shockingly, the late 1960s. Alice addressed a disease that terrified generations. It is unlikely Alice realized the full import of her 1915 discovery or how it contributed to future developments and an eventual cure for leprosy. She died only a year later, in 1916, of an unknown illness. In her short 24 years; however, Alice Ball was extraordinary. She personally and professionally excelled in spite of innumerable barriers, and erasing her relative anonymity is just one more reason to celebrate Alice Augusta Ball this Black History Month. Visit www.scientificwomen.net; www.blackpast.org and www.hawaii.edu to learn more about Alice’s legacy.

It’s easy to ‘talk the talk,’ but far more effort to ‘walk the walk.’ This is particularly true when it comes to environmental obligations - our commitment to our future on planet Earth. The goals are enormous, obstacles seemingly endless, and taking the (very) long view is a difficult necessity. It might seem easier to leave it to the next company, and the next generation. That - however - is not part of the CANA ethos, and we are mindful to look for ways to integrate important environmental and climate-related considerations into our portfolio. Part of the CANA mission statement is, “to provide efficient and adaptable solutions to our clients, as well as create a life cycle of giving back to the communities and civic organizations we work with throughout the world.” Working on projects and initiatives that support a clean, healthy, and sustainable global environment is one of the ways we walk that walk. CANA deeply believes in the future of electric mobility, sustainability, and resilience, to include the tremendous value and utility of electric and autonomous vehicles. These innovations lay the groundwork of many of our projects in Southern California, ranging from the promotion of autonomous transit, distribution, and observation capabilities aboard bases, to identifying means to reduce local metro traffic gridlock and pollution. CANA has worked with entities like the SoCal Tech Bridge, state and local organizations, as well as like-minded commercial entities for several years now, providing logistics expertise, data analysis, prototype modeling and simulation, and project management. Every small step forward is a movement towards a larger goal. One of CANA’s most exciting involvements this year is with Project Vesta - an ongoing SoCal Tech Bridge-guided experiment that addresses a critical issue - wildfire response. The project brings together eight commercially developed technologies to solve a wicked, and growing, problem. Not only are wildfires immediately dangerous to humans and wildlife, but they are part of a deadly cycle of environmental damage, with effects that far outlast any single blaze. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) recognizes that while, “[a] warmer and drier climate is expected to lead to more frequent and more intense fires near or within populated areas…[the wildfires themselves]...release large amounts of carbon dioxide, black carbon, brown carbon, and ozone precursors into the atmosphere. These emissions affect radiation, clouds, and climate on regional and even global scales.” It is a truly vicious cycle. Methods to combat wildfires are, at best, moderately successful. Past and current efforts at fire suppression and timber harvesting practices have actually contributed to the problem by greatly increasing the amount of forest fuel load, particularly in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The dangers of combating wildfires for first responders and the local population are numerous and potentially long-lasting, especially when wildfires take several weeks to months to contain. ------------------------------------- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Impact of Wildfires on Climate and Air Quality.https://csl.noaa.gov/factsheets/csdWildfiresFIREX.pdf. Keeley, J.E., Syphard, A.D. Twenty-first century California, USA, wildfires: fuel-dominated vs. wind-dominated fires. fire ecol 15, 24 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-019-0041-0 Project Vesta is developing a fire mitigation system with a focus on autonomy - an interoperable network that combines autonomous air and ground vehicles, stand-alone, renewable energy, artificial intelligence, and machine learning systems, and advanced fire prevention and containment materials. It does not remove or negate the human response factor, but adds a potentially safer, more efficient, and more wide-reaching tool to the firefighters’ arsenal. When fully functional, it is anticipated each Project Vesta system will be able to identify, engage, and prevent fire within a wide range of areas. The Project Vesta team is coordinating a number of opportunities to test the project prototype in a controlled live fire environment. The first experiment - to be held on February 14th - 18th, 2022, at Camp Roberts, California - will test a viable prototype and is expected to provide rich data for future analysis and adaptation. Follow-on experimentation is planned for May and July of this year. CANA is excited not only to be a part of these continuing efforts in wildfire mitigation, but also to continue work with industry innovators like SoCal Tech Bridge and others. They, like us, realize the importance of doing the hard work now to enable the environment - and planet - to support future generations. We will share more updates about Project Vesta in the upcoming weeks. Follow us on all social media platforms to learn more. #wildfires #electricvehicles #climatechange #californiawildfires #fire If you’d like to contact Cherish Joostberns, CANA Media, you can reach Cherish at cjoostberns@canallc.com.

Introduction As mentioned in my previous blog post, CANA’s Inaugural Esports Tournament Lessons Learned From The R6 Showdown, we hosted our first annual esports event, the CANA R6 Showdown, this past April. The initiating spark to host an esports event grew out of our interest in supporting the esports industry through the use of data analytics. This event gave us a controlled data sample to assess our capabilities applied to esports. The selected game for the event was Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. The tournament gave us ample amounts of data. Upon analysis of the data retrieved from the gameplay, we decided to create our own metrics we believe offer critical information for players and teams. The three analyses done on the collected data were: First Elimination Correlation to Round Won Analysis Impact Kills Analysis Bomb Site Analysis We see the First Elimination Correlation to Round Won and Bomb Site Analysis as interesting and fun analyses aimed at engaging the fans, although they do offer critical information for the players and teams. The most substantial and informative analysis done was the Impact Kills analysis. More details on each analysis are provided below. First Elimination Correlation to Round Won Analysis This was a quick analysis of how often the team that got the first kill of the round ended up winning that round. In traditional sports, there are similar analyses done; an example is the determination that when team A scores first, it will go on to win 85% of the time. Many similar analytics can be applied in esports. For the R6 Showdown, we broke down the first kill correlation to rounds won by each game, each team, and then, overall. After going through each game, we took a look at the first elimination/win percentage per team. The top tier teams from our event were in the 70th percentile range: NewHorizon Esports went 7/9, 77.78%, US Army Esports went 14/20, 70%, and our champions, Psych Ward, went 21/27, 77.78%. Combining all rounds for all games and teams, the team that got the first kill of the round won 45/67 rounds, 67.16% of the time. This is an excellent metric to pull from esports for general interest and information, but there are many more metrics to discover. Impact Kills Analysis Impact kills (IK) are exactly what they sound like: eliminations that had an impact on the round and game. Oftentimes, there are kills that have no impact on how the round plays out. For example, in a scenario where one player is left against four opponents and that solo player gets a few kills but inevitably dies and loses the round, those kills virtually mean nothing. In these situations, it is very common for the team with the major man advantage to use those extra bodies as markers to reveal the location of the last opponent. The team tends to rush into that area because it knows the one player can't hit all four opponents at once. The team sacrifices a few players to win the round. Consequently, those kills the solo player got really have no purpose or impact on the round. This is why we wanted to create criteria that could measure these IKs. Measuring each team and player impact kills shows who the most valuable player was in each round, game, and team, from an elimination perspective. The criteria used to measure IKs are as follows: First Kill (FK) - The first kill of the round gives an immediate man advantage. Kill Even (KEV) - A player eliminates an opponent to even the number of players on each side. This evens the playing field instead of a team being down by two players. Kill Advantage (KADV) - A player eliminates an opponent to give his/her team the man advantage in the round. Trade (TRD) - A player eliminates an opponent very shortly after that same opponent eliminates his teammate. This essentially makes the opponents kill a wash. Kill on Bomb Carrier (KBC) - A player on defense eliminates the bomb carrier. This is extremely important for the defensive team because once the bomb carrier is eliminated, the attacking team has to retrieve the bomb, but the defense knows exactly where the bomb is located. This means the defense can just continuously watch the bomb and wait for the attacker to try and pick it up. Without the bomb, the attacking team has to rely on eliminating all defensive players in order to win the round. Kill while Planting the Bomb (KPB) - A defense player eliminates the opponent in the act of planting the bomb. This is crucial because it stops the attacking team from planting the bomb, thus requiring the defenders to defuse it. Having to defuse the bomb drastically decreases the chances of the defense winning the round, so eliminating the person while planting the bomb is extremely impactful. Kill that Led to Victory (KLV) - These are kills that directly resulted in the round ending and that team winning the round. Comeback Kills (COMEBACK) - These are kills that occurred in the scenario where there is one player left facing three or more opponents, and he/she eliminates all of them and wins the round (only counted if the solo wins the round). Ownkill (OWNKILL) - A player kills their own teammate. This is impactful because it gives a major advantage to the opposing team and it did not do anything. It gives the opponent a free advantage. Double - These are not double kills, but refer to kills that met two of the above criteria at once. For example, the first kill (FK) of the round could also be on the bomb carrier (KBC). They do not count as their own impact kills, but are recorded in the final impact kills individual player breakdown. Triple - Triple kills refer to kills that met three of the above criteria at once. For example, player one eliminates player two and it was a KEV, TRD, and KBC. These do not count as their own impact kills, but are recorded in the final impact kills individual player breakdown. There are situations where eliminations meet the criteria and are technically considered IKs through the metrics, but did not impact the round. In this instance, these kills came late and just prolonged the inevitable loss. These are not counted towards IKs. Being able to break down individually how many kills actually had an impact on the game, and to detail what type of kill it was, provides great insight to the players and potential scouts on how “clutch” and valuable that player is. It also shows how many times a player was on the receiving end of an impact kill. This is a newly developed metric that is very useful to evaluate the true value of a player. It can be used for recruiting, practice, and strategy purposes, and for overall player improvement purposes. Bomb Site Analysis The initial hypothesis was that if the attacking team failed to locate the bomb site(s) during the round’s preparation phase, the team would be more likely to lose that round. The thought process behind our hypothesis was that when teams do not find the bomb site in the preparation phase, they have to use the action phase time to find the site. Starting the round in this way gives no advantage on where to go or the location of the enemy team. It significantly lowers the amount of time the team has to attack the correct areas. When attackers do locate the bomb site in the preparation phase, they start the actual round with a clear path and have the entire round to focus on getting to that area. After going through the data, this hypothesis was disproved. For the overall event, the attacking team only won 32% of the rounds after finding the bomb in the preparation phase. On the other hand, the attacking team won 50% of the rounds when they did not find the bomb in the preparation phase. This was an extremely interesting discovery and we determined a few potential reasons for these results. The data that the bomb site was or was not located in the preparation phase comes from the game itself stating it. This means attackers’ drones could have been eliminated just before revealing the bomb site, but still unofficially relaying the locations of the enemies and bomb site. For example, the players controlling the drone could have heard enemy footsteps and equipment being placed in a room adjacent to their drone. This would effectively let the players controlling the drone know where the enemies and the bomb site are without having to actually mark it. It is also worth noting the data may be skewed by competing teams with unequal skill levels. These lesser skilled teams stood no chance when it came down to pure gameplay skill, so finding the bomb site was irrelevant to their success. This analysis is still important for teams. Even though our findings suggested low correlation between finding the bomb site in the preparation phase and winning the round, locating the bomb in the preparation phase still increases winning chances in the action phase. It is hard to plan an attack in an unknown area. Finding the bomb early gives the attackers a lead on where to go and allows them more time to focus on infiltrating the site. Closing Remarks These three analyses only scratch the surface of what our inaugural tournament’s Rainbow Six Siege data has to offer, not to mention the relevance to the entire esports realm. It continues to fuel CANA’s passion for esports. As the esports industry grows in every way possible, we plan to continue to support the industry through the use of data analytics. Team CANA, providing analytics intel for success! If you would like to learn more or get involved with future CANA Esports events you can reach out to us at esports@canallc.com or join our Discord at CANA_eSports (discord.com) #esports #esportsanalytics #rainbowsixsiege #CANAesports Jack is an intern with CANA Advisors. To learn more about CANA’s internship program, please contact Ms. Cherish Joosteberns at cjoostberns@canallc.com.

An R mystery Someone recently sent out a message in our development team internal chatroom with the subject line "[s]ome bizarre R code behavior." We had used a typical workflow where we duplicated a data frame into a copy of another data frame, i.e., df_new <- df_original. This allows us to do some data munging on the new data frame, while the original is left intact. Since assignment in R creates a distinct copy in memory, any changes to the new data frame would have no impact on the original. That is not what was happening. Instead, modifying column names of the new data frame was also modifying them in the original! This caused a crashing error further along in the script where there was code that depended on the column names. Basically, R was behaving like other programming languages where an assignment just created a pointer or reference, and any changing of the value of one variable changed the value for both. A simplified version of the buggy code would look something like this: This gives the error: The Problem Why doesn't the column col1 exist in the data frame df_original? df_original should be unchanged, and we never deliberately removed the column. The hint is in the packages that we used, specifically, data.table. data.table is a powerful package that includes many convenience functions. One huge advantage of data.table over base R objects like data.frame is that data.table has better performance on large datasets. But in this case, the catch is how it achieves this performance gain. According to the documentation, "all set* functions change their input by reference. That is, no copy is made at all, other than temporary working memory, which is as large as one column." [https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/data.table/data.table.pdf] In other words, this extends the base R data.frame to behave similarly to some other programming languages. It allows modification in place in memory, rather than having to do inefficient copying. This sounds like exactly what is going on in our buggy code, where we don't seem to have a separate copy of the data frame. In this case, a data.table function sneaked into our code without us realizing it -- setnames(). Because we were mixing functions from various packages, the issue was not obvious to us. So what is really going on? A deep dive into R memory handling Let’s use the lobstr package [https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/lobstr/index.html] to investigate the structure of how these data frames are actually stored in memory. This returns: The possibly-intimidating-looking hex codes (e.g., 0x7fb6f3302008) give the address in memory of that object and all of its properties. If you look closely, you’ll see that all of the addresses are identical between df_original and df_new. So both variables are pointing at the same object in memory. How can this be, if R always makes a new copy when you assign a variable? The answer is that despite R’s frequent copying, it tries to be efficient in its memory handling. When the df_new variable is first assigned, it just points to the same address in memory. But if any data is modified, then R creates a copy and modifies that: Result: You can see how the memory address of the whole object has changed from 0x7fb6f3302008 to 0x7fb6f2f389c8. And more importantly, the address of col2 has changed, while col1 has stayed the same. We’re narrowing in on the problem with using a data.table function. Notice that the data.frames have an attribute called names. This is the vector that holds the names of the columns. Also, notice that the address of this attribute is identical between the two data frames (0x7fb6f3a4dc88). Recall from the data.table documentation that “set” functions, including setnames(), change their input by reference. So if you call setnames() on df_new, it will change the single value in memory that both variables point to: Returns: If we were to use a base R function to rename the columns, such as names() or colnames(), rather than the data.table function, then R would simply copy the names attribute, just like it did above when we set a value in col2. So the solution to our buggy code from the top is to simply replace the call to setnames() with names(): Result: Only the column in df_new is renamed, and no errors! Lesson learned? The conclusion that I drew from this, is that while data.table can be very useful and efficient, there are pitfalls that developers need to watch out for. You need to be intentional about using data.table functions and be especially careful about using them on data frames and not actual data.table objects. One suggestion is to explicitly use the package name before functions, e.g., data.table::setnames() to avoid confusion of what package the function comes from. Thanks to CANA’s Renee Carlucci, Rick Hanson, and Rocky Graciani for helping to solve this R mystery. Aaron Luprek is a Senior Software Developer here at CANA. You can contact Aaron at aluprek@canallc.com or LinkedIn.

Recently the CANA Foundation, CANA’s “give back” arm, helped the Johnstown Area Heritage Association (JAHA) and a group of teachers and students create a young reader's book to explore the laurel highlands of Pennsylvania and learn about its rich history, while also learning about some of the modern environmental issues that concern us today in that region. The book itself was made possible by a grant from National Geographic (NatGEO) Education to JAHA to produce and publish an educational children's book based on the ASK Learning Framework with themes of curiosity, responsibility, and empowerment. The initial credit and development efforts go to National Geographic Certified Local Educator Dr. Aspen B. Mock who brought the idea to JAHA to try for the grant. After being awarded the grant, Dr. Mock reached out to several of the local school districts in the area to see who would want to be involved. From that outreach, three local schools joined in the effort: Greater Johnstown School District (GJSD), Forest Hills School District (FHSD), and Bishop McCort High School (BMHS). Each school brought a small team of students who volunteered to be involved with the book's creation. So, how does one organize and collaborate with groups of kids from three different schools at the end of the school year to create a children's book? To accomplish it, JAHA first had a few online ZOOM meetings with the teachers to describe the process we would be using to allow as many kids to work on the creation of the book as possible. First, the basic idea of the book was drafted by Dr. Mock so the high school teachers and kids had a great starting point and could collaborate and develop the story further. The direction for that teacher-student mentoring was based around the NatGEO ASK Learning Framework. For that mentoring collaboration, the team mostly used the Slack (https://slack.com) chat and collaboration app for story development and idea exchanges, and for the storage and sharing of the story development files, photographs, and artwork, we used a shared Google Drive folder. After the general story was laid out, the story was divided out, and each school was given a section/s of the story to refine further. This is the point at which graphic artist Koa Beam, on loan from CANA via their CANA Foundation outreach efforts, met with the student online to help the kids develop a standard look for the children's book; help them develop the model sheets for each of the main characters in the book; and describe the whole production process that was being used. When needed, Koa gave illustration, storyboarding, and layout tutorials to the students and teachers both online and in an in-person workshop at the Heritage Discovery Center. "We took an almost animation studio or comic-book style production pipeline style of working on the book." ~ Koa Beam Using that style of production approach would allow the workload to be spread out and let kids work on things at the same time without having to wait for one particular artist to complete something before they could get involved. The kids designed the main characters with a little input from the teachers and based on the example character look and feel they had chosen. They then storyboarded out what would happen in their sections of the book. Based on those storyboards, some kids drew the characters in various poses needed for the story. At the same time, other kids drew the backgrounds that would be needed and could be repurposed for the various scenes in each section throughout the book. Then, as the pencil artwork was finished, it could either be inked by the same student or passed on to another student. After inking the pencil artwork the colors were done on a completely different piece of paper using markers by other students. This approach was something new for the kids, but they did a great job. After the students finished all the artwork, the graphic artist consultant touched up the artwork where needed, combined all the art with the backgrounds in Photoshop, and laid it all out with the written text for production. Before the final book was published, we used PowerPoint as the collaboration tool to do the draft final draft. Then, the layouts and story edits were put together in Adobe InDesign and sent off to the publisher for printing. They were also posted online in a digital flipbook format and made available as a standard PDF. The book was designed with the knowledge that it would be an ebook and a hardcopy book that would be made available to the local area elementary schools to incorporate as desired into their curricula. In the end, this socially distanced, diverse, group of teachers and students took a collaborative journey and completed an educational children's book over the locked-down summer break - all while learning a bit about book development, production, publishing, and, finally, releasing that book to the world. If you are in the Johnstown area or are interested in "The Laurel Highlands Explorers" book, you can attend the release event at the Heritage Discovery Center in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on December 12th, 2021, at 3:00 PM. In addition to the physical book, there will be a chance to view the digital exhibit: The Laurel Highlands Explorers Digital Exhibit: The Journey Behind the Book. The storyline of the book, which has a target audience of elementary school-age children, was inspired by a real-life exploration of the Laurel Highlands by the students and their teacher mentors. The story features well-known locations, symbols, and more, from Johnstown, including the Wagner-Ritter House, Morley’s Dog, and the Conemaugh River…with otters. For more information on the book visit the JAHA website at https://www.jaha.org/ View the book here https://heyzine.com/flip-book/1599aa11b9.html If you are interested in how CANA or the CANA Foundation can help your organization, visit https://www.canallc.com Koa Beam is our Lead Graphic Artist here at CANA. You can contact Koa at kbeam@canallc.com.

Team CANA would like to welcome Chris Cichy, our new Principal Artificial Intelligence Analyst! “If everything goes right, we get a good experience. If everything goes wrong, we get a good story.” — Simon Sinek Chris Cichy Principal Artificial Intelligence Analyst Chris has a diverse background with over 23 years of military experience in the Army and Marine Corps, as well as training, education, and deployment with the Navy and Air Force. Chris served as a Joint Terminal Attack Controller, Fire Support Officer, Air Officer, Battery Commander, and held both Future and Current Operations Officer billets for a Marine Expeditionary Unit. He culminated his career at Marine Corps Combat Development and Integration where he served as a service lead for the implementation of the National Defense Strategy, Irregular Warfare plan. Chris was hand-selected by senior leadership to participate in Marine Corps Force Design planning and lead an Artificial Intelligence, Capabilities Based Assessment of the service. Throughout his career, he has written numerous service and Joint publications, professional journal articles, concepts, and capabilities development documents. Chris holds a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from California State University at San Marcos. You can reach Chris at ccichy@canallc.com or Linkedin. CANA Advisors A Veteran-Owned and Woman-Owned Company.