When is Better Best? A multiobjective perspective

Purpose: To identify the most informative methods for reporting results of treatment planning comparisons. Methods: Seven papers from the past year of International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics reported on comparisons of treatment plans for IMRT and IMAT. The papers were reviewed to identify methods of comparisons. Decision theoretical concepts were used to evaluate the study methods and highlight those that provide the most information. Results: None of the studies examined the correlation between objectives. Statistical comparisons provided some information but not enough to make provide support for a robust decision analysis. Conclusion: The increased use of treatment planning studies to evaluate different methods in radiation therapy requires improved standards for designing the studies and reporting the results

Marketing And The Rise Of Web 2.0: Expanding Opportunity, Increasing Challenge

As the Internet has become an increasingly central element of daily life, marketers have scrambled to adapt their methods to this new medium. While early online marketing efforts consisted primarily of repackaged print materials, the rise of Web 2.0 sites with their increasingly interactive experiences has forced marketers to broaden their offerings in order to remain relevant. This analysis considers the broad dimensions of the new online marketing landscape. It assesses the major Web 2.0 sites and evaluates their current scope and reach, concluding that firms utilizing Web 2.0 tools for marketing purposes must insure consistency across their various sites, invest adequate resources to provide prompt service, and recognize that customer expectations for such service will continue to rise for the foreseeable future

How do sociodemographic characteristics influence UK civilian opinions of UK armed forces Iraq and Afghanistan veterans? A mixed-method approach.

Evidence suggests that UK veterans are seen as victims with concern for their perceived mental health needs. This study examined sociodemographic factors that contribute to victimizing conceptualizations of British Army Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. UK participants (N = 234) provided three word associations to 'British Army Iraq Veteran' and 'British Army Afghanistan Veteran' and answered sociodemographic questions. A multiple linear regression outlines that low national pride, mission opposition and higher levels of education predict elevated victimizing word associations. Narrative accounts from UK interviews (N = 21) suggest that participants who perceived the recent conflicts as illegitimate conceptualize veterans as passive, naïve actors who had to submit to the agency of the anthropomorphic described government. This allowed holding overtly appreciative though belittling attitudes toward veterans, while opposing the missions. To dissociate veterans from victimizing perceptions, better knowledge about service and justifications for deployments need to be provided. Study limitations, including over sampling of young adult females, are discussed

A Hierachical Evolutionary Algorithm for Multiobjective Optimization in IMRT

Purpose: Current inverse planning methods for IMRT are limited because they are not designed to explore the trade-offs between the competing objectives between the tumor and normal tissues. Our goal was to develop an efficient multiobjective optimization algorithm that was flexible enough to handle any form of objective function and that resulted in a set of Pareto optimal plans. Methods: We developed a hierarchical evolutionary multiobjective algorithm designed to quickly generate a diverse Pareto optimal set of IMRT plans that meet all clinical constraints and reflect the trade-offs in the plans. The top level of the hierarchical algorithm is a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA). The genes of the individuals generated in the MOEA are the parameters that define the penalty function minimized during an accelerated deterministic IMRT optimization that represents the bottom level of the hierarchy. The MOEA incorporates clinical criteria to restrict the search space through protocol objectives and then uses Pareto optimality among the fitness objectives to select individuals. Results: Acceleration techniques implemented on both levels of the hierarchical algorithm resulted in short, practical runtimes for optimizations. The MOEA improvements were evaluated for example prostate cases with one target and two OARs. The modified MOEA dominated 11.3% of plans using a standard genetic algorithm package. By implementing domination advantage and protocol objectives, small diverse populations of clinically acceptable plans that were only dominated 0.2% by the Pareto front could be generated in a fraction of an hour. Conclusions: Our MOEA produces a diverse Pareto optimal set of plans that meet all dosimetric protocol criteria in a feasible amount of time. It optimizes not only beamlet intensities but also objective function parameters on a patient-specific basis

Large capacity oblique all-wing transport aircraft

Dr. R. T. Jones first developed the theory for oblique wing aircraft in 1952, and in subsequent years numerous analytical and experimental projects conducted at NASA Ames and elsewhere have established that the Jones' oblique wing theory is correct. Until the late 1980's all proposed oblique wing configurations were wing/body aircraft with the wing mounted on a pivot. With the emerging requirement for commercial transports with very large payloads, 450-800 passengers, Jones proposed a supersonic oblique flying wing in 1988. For such an aircraft all payload, fuel, and systems are carried within the wing, and the wing is designed with a variable sweep to maintain a fixed subsonic normal Mach number. Engines and vertical tails are mounted on pivots supported from the primary structure of the wing. The oblique flying wing transport has come to be known as the Oblique All-Wing (OAW) transport. This presentation gives the highlights of the OAW project that was to study the total concept of the OAW as a commercial transport

The Full-sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer -- Astrometry for the New Millennium

FAME is designed to perform an all-sky, astrometric survey with unprecedented accuracy. It will create a rigid astrometric catalog of 4x10^7 stars with 5 < m_V < 15. For bright stars, 5 < m_V < 9, FAME will determine positions and parallaxes accurate to < 50 microarcseconds, with proper motion errors < 50 microarcseconds/year. For fainter stars, 9 < m_V < 15, FAME will determine positions and parallaxes accurate to < 500 microarcseconds, with proper motion errors < 500 microarcseconds/year. It will also collect photometric data on these 4 x 10^7 stars in four Sloan DSS colors.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, to appear in "Working on the Fringe

Neutral pion photoproduction off 3H and 3He in chiral perturbation theory

We calculate electromagnetic neutral pion production off three-nucleon bound states (3H, 3He) at threshold to leading one-loop order in the framework of chiral nuclear effective field theory. In addition, we analyze the dependence of the nuclear S-wave amplitude E_{0+} on the elementary neutron amplitude E_{0+}^{pi0 n} which in the case of 3He provides a stringent test of the prediction based on chiral perturbation theory. Uncertainties from higher order corrections are estimated.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, version accepted for publication in Phys. Lett. B, improved discussion of higher-order corrections, results unchange

Case Report Hyper IgE Syndrome and Renal Cell Carcinoma

Hyper IgE Syndrome (HIES) is an immunodeficiency disorder characterized by increased serum levels of IgE, eczema, and recurrent cutaneous and pulmonary infections. In this report, we present, to our knowledge, the first documented case of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) found in a patient with HIES. The patient received infectious disease clearance prior to obtaining a partial nephrectomy which revealed clear cell histology. Both HIES and RCC have an immunological basis for their pathophysiology and may involve common pathways. Further studies may provide insight into any possible link and clinicians should be mindful of immunocompromised patients who present with risk factors for genitourinary malignancy