Leadership for Adult and Continuing Education

This paper reviews findings from a study of the perceptions of adult educators of leadership for the field of adult and continuing education. Findings are ultimately organized according to the contexts and dimensions of leadership

Portraying the hosts: Stellar science from planet searches

Information on the full session can be found on this website: https://sites.google.com/site/portrayingthehostscs18/We present a compendium of the splinter session on stellar science from planet searches that was organized as part of the Cool Stars 18 conference. Seven speakers discussed techniques to infer stellar information from radial velocity, transit and microlensing data, as well as new instrumentation and missions designed for planet searches that will provide useful for the study of the cool stars

Type and dose of radiotherapy used for initial treatment of non-metastatic prostate cancer

BACKGROUND: We sought to describe patterns of initial radiotherapy among non-metastatic prostate cancer (PC) patients by recurrence risk groups. METHODS: Medical records were abstracted for a sample of 9017 PC cases diagnosed in 2004 as a part of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention\u27s Prostate and Breast Patterns of Care Study in seven states. Non-metastatic PC cases are categorized as low-risk (LR), intermediate-risk (IR) or high-risk (HR) groups based on pretreatment PSA, tumor stage, and Gleason score per 2002 NCCN guidelines. Univariate and multivariate analyses were employed to determine factors associated with the type and dose of radiotherapy by the risk groups. RESULTS: Of the 9,017 patients, 3153 who received definitive radiotherapy either alone or in combination with hormone therapy (HT) were selected for in-depth analysis. Multivariate models showed that LR patients were more likely to receive seed implant brachytherapy (BT) than those in higher risk groups. Those in the IR group were most likely to receive external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) combined with BT or high-dose radiotherapy. Use of HT in combination with radiotherapy was more common in the IR and HR groups than for LR patients. Intensity modulated radiation treatment (IMRT) was used to treat 32.6% of PC patients treated with EBRT, with the majority (60.6%) treated with high-dose radiotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Radiotherapy types and dosage utilization varied by PC risk groups. Patients in IR were more likely than those in LR or HR to receive high-dose radiotherapy. IMRT was used in about one third of patients to deliver high-dose radiotherapy

From cutting-edge pointwise cross-section to groupwise reaction rate: A primer

The nuclear research and development community has a history of using both integral and differential experiments to support accurate lattice-reactor, nuclear reactor criticality and shielding simulations, as well as verification and validation efforts of cross sections and emitted particle spectra. An important aspect to this type of analysis is the proper consideration of the contribution of the neutron spectrum in its entirety, with correct propagation of uncertainties and standard deviations derived from Monte Carlo simulations, to the local and total uncertainty in the simulated reactions rates (RRs), which usually only apply to one application at a time. This paper identifies deficiencies in the traditional treatment, and discusses correct handling of the RR uncertainty quantification and propagation, including details of the cross section components in the RR uncertainty estimates, which are verified for relevant applications. The methodology that rigorously captures the spectral shift and cross section contributions to the uncertainty in the RR are discussed with quantified examples that demonstrate the importance of the proper treatment of the spectrum profile and cross section contributions to the uncertainty in the RR and subsequent response functions. The recently developed inventory code FISPACT-II, when connected to the processed nuclear data libraries TENDL-2015, ENDF/B-VII.1, JENDL-4.0u or JEFF-3.2, forms an enhanced multi-physics platform providing a wide variety of advanced simulation methods for modelling activation, transmutation, burnup protocols and simulating radiation damage sources terms. The system has extended cutting-edge nuclear data forms, uncertainty quantification and propagation methods, which have been the subject of recent integral and differential, fission, fusion and accelerators validation efforts. The simulation system is used to accurately and predictively probe, understand and underpin a modern and sustainable understanding of the nuclear physics that is so important for many areas of science and technology; advanced fission and fuel systems, magnetic and inertial confinement fusion, high energy, accelerator physics, medical application, isotope production, earth exploration, astrophysics and homeland security

The Best and Worst of Contracts Decisions: An Anthology

Five hundred years ago, the common law of contract was without substance. It was form-procedure. Plaintiffs picked a form of action, and common law judges made sure someone besides themselves answered all the hard questions; the parties, a jury, or a ritual determined the winner and the remedy. Judges ran a switch on a conflicts-resolution railway. Thomas More, when Chancellor of England (1529-33), urged judges to lay tracks and control the trains. The problem, he said, was that the judges, by the verdict of the jury[,] cast off all quarrels from themselves. The judges soon assumed greater authority, taking responsibility for the law\u27s substance. The consideration requirement was in place by 1539, and judges afterwards imposed doctrine upon doctrine. Over centuries, they created the common law of contract. That law is now mature, more or less, meaning that judges have tools to fix what they want to fix, and feel free to do so. The law they created-the common law of contract-is a remarkable intellectual and political achievement

The Ninth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) presents the first spectroscopic data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This ninth data release (DR9) of the SDSS project includes 535,995 new galaxy spectra (median z=0.52), 102,100 new quasar spectra (median z=2.32), and 90,897 new stellar spectra, along with the data presented in previous data releases. These spectra were obtained with the new BOSS spectrograph and were taken between 2009 December and 2011 July. In addition, the stellar parameters pipeline, which determines radial velocities, surface temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities of stars, has been updated and refined with improvements in temperature estimates for stars with T_eff<5000 K and in metallicity estimates for stars with [Fe/H]>-0.5. DR9 includes new stellar parameters for all stars presented in DR8, including stars from SDSS-I and II, as well as those observed as part of the SDSS-III Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration-2 (SEGUE-2). The astrometry error introduced in the DR8 imaging catalogs has been corrected in the DR9 data products. The next data release for SDSS-III will be in Summer 2013, which will present the first data from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) along with another year of data from BOSS, followed by the final SDSS-III data release in December 2014.Comment: 9 figures; 2 tables. Submitted to ApJS. DR9 is available at http://www.sdss3.org/dr