Spatial effects upon employment outcomes: the case of New Jersey teenagers

Employment (Economic theory) ; Econometric models ; Income distribution ; New Jersey

Projector self-consistent DFT+U using non-orthogonal generalized Wannier functions

We present a formulation of the density-functional theory + Hubbard model (DFT+U) method that is self-consistent over the choice of Hubbard projectors used to define the correlated subspaces. In order to overcome the arbitrariness in this choice, we propose the use of non-orthogonal generalized Wannier functions (NGWFs) as projectors for the DFT+U correction. We iteratively refine these NGWF projectors and, hence, the DFT+U functional, such that the correlated subspaces are fully self-consistent with the DFT+U ground-state. We discuss the convergence characteristics of this algorithm and compare ground-state properties thus computed with those calculated using hydrogenic projectors. Our approach is implemented within, but not restricted to, a linear-scaling DFT framework, opening the path to DFT+U calculations on systems of unprecedented size.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. This version (v2) matches that accepted for Physical Review B Rapid Communications on 26th July 201

Solar energy conversion

If solar energy is to become a practical alternative to fossil fuels, we must have efficient ways to convert photons into electricity, fuel, and heat. The need for better conversion technologies is a driving force behind many recent developments in biology, materials, and especially nanoscience

Stratified decision forests for accurate anatomical landmark localization in cardiac images

Accurate localization of anatomical landmarks is an important step in medical imaging, as it provides useful prior information for subsequent image analysis and acquisition methods. It is particularly useful for initialization of automatic image analysis tools (e.g. segmentation and registration) and detection of scan planes for automated image acquisition. Landmark localization has been commonly performed using learning based approaches, such as classifier and/or regressor models. However, trained models may not generalize well in heterogeneous datasets when the images contain large differences due to size, pose and shape variations of organs. To learn more data-adaptive and patient specific models, we propose a novel stratification based training model, and demonstrate its use in a decision forest. The proposed approach does not require any additional training information compared to the standard model training procedure and can be easily integrated into any decision tree framework. The proposed method is evaluated on 1080 3D highresolution and 90 multi-stack 2D cardiac cine MR images. The experiments show that the proposed method achieves state-of-theart landmark localization accuracy and outperforms standard regression and classification based approaches. Additionally, the proposed method is used in a multi-atlas segmentation to create a fully automatic segmentation pipeline, and the results show that it achieves state-of-the-art segmentation accuracy

Conspicuous consumption and hospitality at a wine festival in China.

The nature of Chinese consumption and hospitality has evolved rapidly since the post-80s middle class adopted new lifestyles and consumption choices after the opening up of the economy and society. This study explores the logics underpinning conspicuous consumption of wine in China by way of an exploratory factor analysis of 253 respondents at a wine festival. The study found that conspicuous tendencies manifest themselves with wine consumption, but are affected by culture and traditional values. The study found social and personal influences mediate how individuals perceive and experience consumption in ways that do not wholly follow western practices. This paper contributes to existing hospitality literature by conceptualizing from a consumer perspective, how a product or brand has the potential to become conspicuous within the Chinese hospitality context and explores implications for hospitality research by generating a thorough understanding of links between conspicuous consumption and hospitality

Cancer-related fatigue in palliative care: a global perspective

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) in a palliative care setting is a distressing symptom that can have a negative impact on a patient's quality of life. A range of setting- and disease-specific factors, unknown aetiology and absence of unilateral guidelines make CRF treatment a challenge for clinicians. In the absence of high-quality evidence in favour of any pharmacological and nonpharmacological measures, except exercise, cognitive behavioural therapy and psychosocial interventions, a personalised integrative oncology approach can lead to effective management. Findings suggest adoption of a severity-based symptom-stage adjusted CRF management care pathway, highlighting best practices to illustrate the lived experience of this symptom. Overcoming barriers by staff training, patient education, facilitating communication and patients' self-care, will increase CRF management effectiveness. Future CRF multisymptom or multidimensional nature investigation trials of its underlying mechanisms and new pharmacological and nonpharmacological strategies applied separately or in combination, will help reveal the best approach to CRF diagnosis, assessment and management

Mongoose Manor: Herpestidae remains from the Early Pleistocene Cooper’s D locality in the Cradle of Humankind, Gauteng, South Africa

Mongooses (Herpestidae) are an important component of African ecosystems, and a common constituent of southern African fossil assemblages. Despite this, mongoose fossils from the Cradle of Humankind, Gauteng, South Africa, have received relatively little interest. This paper presents the diverse mongoose craniodental assemblage from the early Pleistocene fossil locality Cooper’s D. A total of 29 mongoose specimens from five genera were identified at Cooper’s, including numerous first appearances in the Cradle or in South Africa. The exceptional mongoose assemblage at Cooper’s likely reflects the effects of an unknown taphonomic process, although mongooses follow other carnivore groups in the Cradle in displaying an apparent preference for the southern part of the Cradle. This investigation shows the value of mongooses as palaeoecological indicators and supports previous interpretations of the environment at Cooper’s as grassland with a strong woody component near a permanent water source.Palaeontological Scientific Trust (PAST); DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, Palaeosciences (CoE-Pal); the South African National Research Foundation; and the University of the Witwatersrand Postgraduate Merit Award.JNC201