Revising old child support orders: The Wisconsin experience

In an effort to make Wisconsin's child support cases more equitable and up-to-date, child support staff reviewed "old" child support orders in thirteen of the state's seventy-two counties. (Reviewing old child support orders is now mandatory under the provisions of the Family Support Act of 1988.) Of the reviewed cases, only 21 percent were revised. Primary reasons for non-revision were the economic circumstances of the noncustodial parent (among welfare cases) and a lack of permission by the custodial parent to proceed (among non-welfare cases). Revised orders increased substantially, an average of $116/month (77 percent). An alternative method of keeping orders current is to express them as a percentage of the noncustodial parent's income; these orders are kept up-to-date automatically and are associated with large increases in collections.

Energieeintrag langsamer hochgeladener Ionen in Festkörperoberflächen

Motiviert durch die in der Literatur bisher unvollständige Beschreibung der Relaxation hochgeladener Ionen vor Festkörperoberflächen, besonders in Bezug auf den Eintrag potenzieller Energie in Oberflächen und der Aufstellung einer vollständigen Energiebilanz, werden in dieser Arbeit komplement äre Studien präsentiert, die sowohl die Ermittlung des Anteils der deponierten potenziellen Energie als auch die Ermittlung der emittierten potenziellen Energie ermöglichen. Zum Einen wird zur Bestimmung des eingetragenen Anteils der potenziellen Energie eine kalorimetrische Messanordnung verwendet, zum Anderen gelingt die Bestimmung der emittierten potenziellen Energie mittels doppeldifferenzieller Elektronenspektroskopie. Für vertiefende Studien werden Materialien unterschiedlicher elektronischer Strukturen (Cu, n-Si, p-Si und SiO2) verwendet. Im Falle der Kalorimetrie wird festgestellt, dass die eingetragene potenzielle Energie linear mit der inneren potenziellen Energie der Ionen wächst. Dabei bleibt das Verhältnis zwischen der eingetragenen potenziellen Energie und der inneren potenziellen Energie nahezu konstant bei etwa (80±10)%. Der Vergleich von Cu, n-Si und p-Si zeigt im Rahmen der Messfehler keine signifikanten Unterschiede in diesem Verhältnis. Es liegen jedoch deutlich unter jenem von SiO2. Die Elektronenspektroskopie liefert ein dazu komplementäres Ergebnis. Für Cu und Si konnte ebenfalls eine lineare Abhängigkeit zwischen emittierter Energie und innerer potenzieller Energie festgestellt werden. Das Verhältnis wurde hierfür bis zum Ladungszustand bis Ar7+ zu etwa (10±5)% unabhängig vom Ladungszustand bestimmt. Im Gegensatz dazu liefert SiO2 eine nahezu verschwindende Elektronenausbeute. Für Ar8+ und Ar9+ steigt die Elektronenausbeute wegen der Beiträge der LMM-Augerelektronen f¨ur alle untersuchten Materialien leicht an. Der Anteil der emittierten Energie eines Ar9+-Ions wird f¨ur Cu und Si zu etwa 20% und f¨ur SiO2 zu etwa 10% angegeben. Diese Ergebnisse sind in guter Übereinstimmung mit den Kalorimetrieexperimenten und erfüllen die Energiebilanz. Zusätzlich werden die experimentellen Ergebnisse mit einer Computersimulation modelliert, welche auf dem erweiterten dynamischen klassischen Barrierenmodell basiert. Aus diesen Rechnungen kann zudem jener Anteil der deponierten potenziellen Energie erhalten werden, welcher durch Bildladungsbeschleunigung vor der Oberfläche in kinetische Energie umgewandelt wurde

VIDA: A Voxel-Based Dosimetry Method for Targeted Radionuclide Therapy Using Geant4

We have developed the Voxel-Based Internal Dosimetry Application (VIDA) to provide patient-specific dosimetry in targeted radionuclide therapy performing Monte Carlo simulations of radiation transport with the Geant4 toolkit. The code generates voxel-level dose rate maps using anatomical and physiological data taken from individual patients. Voxel level dose rate curves are then fit and integrated to yield a spatial map of radiation absorbed dose. In this article, we present validation studies using established dosimetry results, including self-dose factors (DFs) from the OLINDA/EXM program for uniform activity in unit density spheres and organ self- and cross-organ DFs in the Radiation Dose Assessment Resource (RADAR) reference adult phantom. The comparison with reference data demonstrated agreement within 5% for self-DFs to spheres and reference phantom source organs for four common radionuclides used in targeted therapy (131I, 90Y, 111In, 177Lu). Agreement within 9% was achieved for cross-organ DFs. We also present dose estimates to normal tissues and tumors from studies of two non-Hodgkin Lymphoma patients treated by 131I radioimmunotherapy, with comparison to results generated independently with another dosimetry code. A relative difference of 12% or less was found between methods for mean absorbed tumor doses accounting for tumor regression.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140327/1/cbr.2014.1713.pd

Fitness of Crop-Wild Hybrid Sunflower under Competitive Conditions: Implications for Crop-to-Wild Introgression

Understanding the likelihood and extent of introgression of novel alleles in hybrid zones requires comparison of lifetime fitness of parents and hybrid progeny. However, fitness differences among cross types can vary depending on biotic conditions, thereby influencing introgression patterns. Based on past work, we predicted that increased competition would enhance introgression between cultivated and wild sunflower (Helianthus annuus) by reducing fitness advantages of wild plants. To test this prediction, we established a factorial field experiment in Kansas, USA where we monitored the fitness of four cross types (Wild, F1, F2, and BCw hybrids) under different levels of interspecific and intraspecific competition. Intraspecific manipulations consisted both of density of competitors and of frequency of crop-wild hybrids. We recorded emergence of overwintered seeds, survival to reproduction, and numbers of seeds produced per reproductive plant. We also calculated two compound fitness measures: seeds produced per emerged seedling and seeds produced per planted seed. Cross type and intraspecific competition affected emergence and survival to reproduction, respectively. Further, cross type interacted with competitive treatments to influence all other fitness traits. More intense competition treatments, especially related to density of intraspecific competitors, repeatedly reduced the fitness advantage of wild plants when considering seeds produced per reproductive plant and per emerged seedling, and F2 plants often became indistinguishable from the wilds. Wild fitness remained superior when seedling emergence was also considered as part of fitness, but the fitness of F2 hybrids relative to wild plants more than quadrupled with the addition of interspecific competitors and high densities of intraspecific competitors. Meanwhile, contrary to prediction, lower hybrid frequency reduced wild fitness advantage. These results emphasize the importance of taking a full life cycle perspective. Additionally, due to effects of exogenous selection, a given hybrid generation may be especially well-suited to hastening introgression under particular environmental conditions.The study was conducted at and partially supported by the University of Kansas Field Station, a research unit of the Kansas Biological Survey and the University of Kansas. It was also supported by Biotechnology Risk Assessment Grant Program competitive grant no. 2006-39454-17438 to AAS, KLM, and HMA from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture; www.nifa.usda.gov. Salaries and research support also provided by State and Federal funds appropriated to the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Ohio State University: manuscript no. HCS-14-07. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Development of a lightweight cryogenic insulating system Final report, 30 Jun. 1964 - 31 May 1966

Lightweight external panel insulation systems for thermal protection of cryogenic launch vehicle propellant tank

Heavy ion action on single cells: Cellular inactivation capability of single accelerated heavy ions

Heavy ions (HZE-particles) constitute an important part of radiation in space. Although their number is small the high amount of energy transferred by individual particles may cause severe biological effects. Their investigation requires special techniques which were tested by experiments performed at the UNILAC at the GSI (Darmstadt). Diploid yeast was used which is a suitable eucaryotic test system because of its resistance to extreme conditions like dryness and vacuum. Cells were placed on nuclear track detector foils and exposed to ions of different atomic number and energy. To assess the action of one single ion on an individual cell, track parameters and the respective colony forming abilities (CFA) were determined with the help of computer aided image analysis. There is mounting evidence that not only the amount of energy deposited along the particle path, commonly given by the LET, is of importance but also the spatial problem of energy deposition at a submicroscopical scale. It is virtually impossible to investigate track structure effects in detail with whole cell populations and (globally applied) high particle fluences. It is, therefore, necessary to detect the action of simple ions in individual cells. The results show that the biological action depends on atomic number and specific energy of the impinging ions, which can be compared with model calculations of recent track structure models