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The hard choices that must be made to balance budgets at higher education institutions can be painful and have dramatic consequences that may linger for years. If enrollment projections and therefore tuition income/budgeting projections for future years are inaccurate, then the result may be unnecessary or insufficient budget reductions, both of which can be problematic and contribute to financial instability. This article addresses the need to link budgeting and planning by describing an innovative solution for developing enrollment projections created through a partnership between the Office of Institutional Research and the Budget Office at the University of Delaware. Planning for an uncertain future in the face of challenging economic conditions continues to be a priority for higher education administration. The purpose of this article is to document an accurate, simple, and effective enrollment forecast model. The authors also illustrate how the Budget Office uses these data in budget formation. (Contains 8 figures.)

Demonstrates that selection benefits of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) are minimal. Demonstrates that the Crosstabulation of Predicted Grades and the College Outcomes Tables would allow colleges to identify the level of redundancy in predicted admissions based on high school grade point average and to estimate the impact of the SAT on predicting different performance outcomes. (Author/SK)

The study investigated the importance of 1,286 college applicants' attitudes about competitor institutions in determining enrollment decisions. Demographic and ability factors that may affect attitudes were controlled. Findings indicated that attitudes toward competing institutions have a significant, positive relationship to enrollment decisions. (Author/MLW)

In the context of image orientation, it is commonly assumed that the environment is completely static. This is why dynamic elements are typically filtered out using robust estimation procedures. Especially in urban areas, however, many such dynamic elements are present in the environment, which leads to a noticeable amount of errors that have to be detected via robust adjustment. This problem is even more evident in the case of cooperative image orientation using dynamic objects as ground control points (GCPs), because such dynamic objects carry the relevant information. One way to deal with this challenge is to detect these dynamic objects prior to the adjustment and to process the related image points separately. To do so, a novel methodology to distinguish dynamic and static image points in stereoscopic image sequences is introduced in this paper, using a neural network for the detection of potentially dynamic objects and additional checks via forward intersection. To investigate the effects of the consideration of dynamic points in the adjustment, an image sequence of an inner-city traffic scenario is used; image orientation, as well as the 3D coordinates of tie points, are calculated via a robust bundle adjustment. It is shown that compared to a solution without considering dynamic points, errors in the tie points are significantly reduced, while the median of the precision of all 3D coordinates of the tie points is improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Localisation is one of the key elements in navigation. Especially due to the development in automated driving, precise and reliable localisation becomes essential. In this paper, we report on different cooperation approaches in visual localisation with two vehicles driving in a convoy formation. Each vehicle is equipped with a multi-sensor platform consisting of front-facing stereo cameras and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver. In the first approach, the GNSS signals are used as excentric observations for the projection centres of the cameras in a bundle adjustment, whereas the second approach uses markers on the front vehicle as dynamic ground control points (GCPs). As the platforms are moving and data acquisition is not synchronised, we use time dependent platform poses. These time dependent poses are represented by trajectories consisting of multiple 6 Degree of Freedom (DoF) anchor points between which linear interpolation takes place. In order to investigate the developed approach experimentally, in particular the potential of dynamic GCPs, we captured data using two platforms driving on a public road at normal speed. As a baseline, we determine the localisation parameters of one platform using only data of that platform. We then compute a solution based on image and GNSS data from both platforms. In a third scenario, the front platform is used as a dynamic GCP which can be related to the trailing platform by markers observed in the images acquired by the latter. We show that both cooperative approaches lead to significant improvements in the precision of the poses of the anchor points after bundle adjustment compared to the baseline. The improvement achieved due to the inclusion of dynamic GCPs is somewhat smaller than the one due to relating the platforms by tie points. Finally, we show that for an individual vehicle, the use of dynamic GCPs can compensate for the lack of GNSS data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Localization is one of the first steps in navigation. Especially due to the rapid development in automated driving, a precise and reliable localization becomes essential. In this paper, we report an investigation of the usage of dynamic ground control points (GCP) in visual localization in an automotive environment. Instead of having fixed positions, dynamic GCPs move together with the camera. As a measure of quality, we employ the precision of the bundle adjustment results. In our experiments, we simulate and investigate different realistic traffic scenarios. After investigating the role of tie points, we compare an approach using dynamic GCPs to an approach with static GCPs to answer the question how a comparable precision can be reached for visual localization. We show, that in our scenario, where two dynamic GCPs move together with a camera, similar results are indeed obtained to using a number of static GCPs distributed over the whole trajectory. In another experiment, we take a closer look at sliding window bundle adjustments. Sliding windows make it possible to work with an arbitrarily large number of images and to still obtain near real-time results. We investigate this approach in combination with dynamic GCPs and vary the no. of images per window. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examined the benefits to an admissions office of using the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in predicting freshmen grades (N=169 and N=172). Results suggested the SAT does not increase predictive validity substantially beyond the high school record. Presents an alternative admissions strategy based on multiple regression. (JAC)

Argues that the Scholastic Aptitude Test is unnecessary. Advocates the coordinated development of achievement tests and high school curricula based on the College Board's Advanced Placement Program and Project Equality. (FMW)

The assessment of the effects of college social prestige and college selectivity on men's occupational status and income based on a national sample of men from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics is discussed. College selectivity has a significant impact on middle-aged men's income in a single year. (Author/MLW)

Data suggest that using the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in addition to high school records for determining college admissions adds virtually no useful predictive information over selection based on high school records alone. (Author/JM)

An approach of a texturing process combining surface modification by ultra-short pulsed laser radiation and etching techniques is developed. The hybrid process is divided into two steps: Firstly, the surface of a silicon wafer is modified by laser radiation. For this purpose, the influence of several laser parameters, e.g. wavelength, pulse duration and energy density, have been analyzed. Secondly, the surface texture is fabricated by an etching process. The modification threshold of the laser treatment is determined for different silicon materials. Different surface modifications occur for different materials after applying the laser treatment. No significant influence of the pulse duration or focus radius is found. Furthermore, the influence of laser processing and plasma etching on reflectivity spectra is compared and interactions between laser and etching parameters are investigated. The developed hybrid process results in smooth and fine surface microstructures. First results show a reduction of the reflectivity in the range of 30% compared to the reflectivity of unstructured wafers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Lasers as production tools offer several advantages, which are especially relevant for the production of solar cells. The contact-less and localized nature of the energy deposition allows new processes, such as laser selective emitter doping, laser ablation of dielectric coatings and via drilling for back contact cell concepts. A highly critical factor is the correct selection of laser parameters and thus laser sources in a manner that adapts the laser process to the requirements of the material, the process nature and the solar cell properties. In this paper the influence of the pulse duration in the range from hundreds of femtoseconds to ten picoseconds on the selective ablation of silicon nitride from multi-crytsalline solar cells is investigated. For this process it is critical to avoid damage to the sensitive emitter and ultra-short laser sources have the potential to enable this process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Lasers as production tools offer several advantages, which are especially relevant for the production of solar cells. The contactless and localized nature of the energy deposition allows new processes, such as laser selective emitter doping, laser ablation of dielectric coatings and via drilling for back contact cell concepts. A critical factor is the selection of suitable laser sources and parameters in a manner that adapts the laser process to the requirements of the material, the process nature and the solar cell properties. In this paper three laser processes are investigated with the goal to identify the most suitable laser source. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A central question in the assessment of benefit/harm of new treatments is: how does the average outcome on the new treatment (the factual) compare to the average outcome had patients received no treatment or a different treatment known to be effective (the counterfactual)? Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the standard for comparing the factual with the counterfactual. Recent developments necessitate and enable a new way of determining the counterfactual for some new medicines. For select situations, we propose a new framework for evidence generation, which we call “threshold‐crossing.” This framework leverages the wealth of information that is becoming available from completed RCTs and from real world data sources. Relying on formalized procedures, information gleaned from these data is used to estimate the counterfactual, enabling efficacy assessment of new drugs. We propose future (research) activities to enable “threshold‐crossing” for carefully selected products and indications in which RCTs are not feasible.