29,307 research outputs found
Criminal History Enhancements Sourcebook
Criminal history scores make up one of the two most significant determinants of the punishment an offender receives in a sentencing guidelines jurisdiction. While prior convictions are taken into account by all U.S. sentencing systems, sentencing guidelines make the role of prior crimes more explicit by specifying the counting rules and by indicating the effect of prior convictions on sentence severity. Yet, once established, criminal history scoring formulas go largely unexamined. Moreover, there is great diversity across state and federal jurisdictions in the ways that an offender's criminal record is considered by courts at sentencing. This Sourcebook brings together for the first time information on criminal history enhancements in all existing U.S. sentencing guidelines systems. Building on this base, the Sourcebook examines major variations in the approaches taken by these systems, and identifies the underlying sentencing policy issues raised by such enhancements.The Sourcebook contains the following elements:A summary of criminal history enhancements in all guidelines jurisdictions;An analysis of the critical dimensions of an offender's previous convictions;A discussion of the policy options available to commissions considering amendments to their criminal history enhancements;A bibliography of key readings on the role of prior convictions at sentencing
A Classical Density-Functional Theory for Describing Water Interfaces
We develop a classical density functional for water which combines the White
Bear fundamental-measure theory (FMT) functional for the hard sphere fluid with
attractive interactions based on the Statistical Associating Fluid Theory
(SAFT-VR). This functional reproduces the properties of water at both long and
short length scales over a wide range of temperatures, and is computationally
efficient, comparable to the cost of FMT itself. We demonstrate our functional
by applying it to systems composed of two hard rods, four hard rods arranged in
a square and hard spheres in water
Global Dimension of Polynomial Rings in Partially Commuting Variables
For any free partially commutative monoid , we compute the global
dimension of the category of -objects in an Abelian category with exact
coproducts. As a corollary, we generalize Hilbert's Syzygy Theorem to
polynomial rings in partially commuting variables.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure
Micromechanics of fatigue in woven and stitched composites
The goal is to determine how microstructural factors, especially the architecture of microstructural factors, control fatigue damage in 3D reinforced polymer composites. Test materials were fabricated from various preforms, including stitched quasi-isotropic laminates, and through-the-thickness angle interlock, layer-to-layer angle interlock, and through-the-thickness stitching effect weaves. Preforms were impregnated with a tough resin by a special vacuum infiltration method. Most tests are being performed in uniaxial compression/compression loading. In all cases to date, failure has occurred not by delamination, but by shear failure, which occurs suddenly rather than by gradual macroscopic crack growth. Some theoretical aspects of bridging are also examined
Exact soliton solutions, shape changing collisions and partially coherent solitons in coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations
We present the exact bright one-soliton and two-soliton solutions of the
integrable three coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations (3-CNLS) by using the
Hirota method, and then obtain them for the general -coupled nonlinear
Schroedinger equations (N-CNLS). It is pointed out that the underlying solitons
undergo inelastic (shape changing) collisions due to intensity redistribution
among the modes. We also analyse the various possibilities and conditions for
such collisions to occur. Further, we report the significant fact that the
various partial coherent solitons (PCS) discussed in the literature are special
cases of the higher order bright soliton solutions of the N-CNLS equations.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 1 EPS figure To appear in Physical Review Letter
A Magnetic Bead-Based Sensor for the Quantification of Multiple Prostate Cancer Biomarkers.
Novel biomarker assays and upgraded analytical tools are urgently needed to accurately discriminate benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) from prostate cancer (CaP). To address this unmet clinical need, we report a piezeoelectric/magnetic bead-based assay to quantitate prostate specific antigen (PSA; free and total), prostatic acid phosphatase, carbonic anhydrase 1 (CA1), osteonectin, IL-6 soluble receptor (IL-6sr), and spondin-2. We used the sensor to measure these seven proteins in serum samples from 120 benign prostate hypertrophy patients and 100 Gleason score 6 and 7 CaP using serum samples previously collected and banked. The results were analyzed with receiver operator characteristic curve analysis. There were significant differences between BPH and CaP patients in the PSA, CA1, and spondin-2 assays. The highest AUC discrimination was achieved with a spondin-2 OR free/total PSA operation--the area under the curve was 0.84 with a p value below 10(-6). Some of these data seem to contradict previous reports and highlight the importance of sample selection and proper assay building in the development of biomarker measurement schemes. This bead-based system offers important advantages in assay building including low cost, high throughput, and rapid identification of an optimal matched antibody pair
Analysis and optimization of a free-electron laser with an irregular waveguide
Using a time-dependent approach the analysis and optimization of a planar
FEL-amplifier with an axial magnetic field and an irregular waveguide is
performed. By applying methods of nonlinear dynamics three-dimensional
equations of motion and the excitation equation are partly integrated in an
analytical way. As a result, a self-consistent reduced model of the FEL is
built in special phase space. The reduced model is the generalization of the
Colson-Bonifacio model and takes into account the intricate dynamics of
electrons in the pump magnetic field and the intramode scattering in the
irregular waveguide. The reduced model and concepts of evolutionary computation
are used to find optimal waveguide profiles. The numerical simulation of the
original non-simplified model is performed to check the effectiveness of found
optimal profiles. The FEL parameters are chosen to be close to the parameters
of the experiment (S. Cheng et al. IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 1996, vol. 24, p.
750), in which a sheet electron beam with the moderate thickness interacts with
the TE01 mode of a rectangular waveguide. The results strongly indicate that
one can improve the efficiency by a factor of five or six if the FEL operates
in the magnetoresonance regime and if the irregular waveguide with the
optimized profile is used
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Why should I attend? The value of business networking events
Despite an increasing variety of technological means enabling business people to exchange information without ever meeting in person, the events industry continues to grow. To help to understand why this is, a study was conducted based on 35 in-depth interviews with attendees and event organizers. The findings highlight the main types of value individuals extracted and identify the implications for measurement practice for what, where, how and when to assess value. These insights can help in determining the ROI of networking events for businesses
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