Technical Tracks Research Articles

Preface: SolarPACES 2022, 28th International Conference on Concentrating Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems

The SolarPACES 2022 International Conference was held from September 27 to September 30, 2022 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As the premier international conference and network for advancing commercial deployment and research and development of concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) and related technologies, the community was excited to convene in person after two years of virtual collaboration. The conference brought together more than 400 participants from 29 countries. The technical presentations and plenary sessions highlighted exciting advances in state-of-the-art commercial deployment and next-generation research and development. There was much focus on emerging commercial markets, including the value of thermal energy storage for cost-effective long duration energy storage – charged either with electricity or solar heat – and the use of solar thermal energy for industrial and chemical processes, especially to decarbonize the large portion of energy that’s currently used for industrial process heating. By holding the conference in the U.S., we were able to highlight particular technical and strategic objectives being advanced by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Government, including the progress in advancing the Generation 3 (Gen3) CSP test facility [1] at Sandia National Laboratories. This megawatt-scale system will demonstrate a fully integrated thermal transport and storage system that can collect, store, and deliver heat above 700° Celsius, using solid particle heat transfer media. Attendees to the conference were able to tour the globally renowned CSP research center at Sandia National Laboratories and the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF). The NSTTF opened in 1978 as the world’s first tower research facility for CSP and has been operating for more than 40 years. The site has been a center of excellence in the development of molten salt technologies for CSP and has played a key role in the demonstration of technologies used in some of the largest solar power plants in the world. We also highlighted the recent announcements from the U.S. Department of Energy of the Energy Earthshot Initiatives to accelerate breakthroughs of abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions by the end of this decade. Specifically, the Long Duration Storage Shot [2] established a target to reduce the cost of grid-scale energy storage by 90% for systems that deliver 10 or more hours of duration, to $0.05 per kilowatt-hour of electricity delivered from storage. The Industrial Heat Shot [3] aims to develop cost-competitive industrial heat decarbonization technologies with at least 85% lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. Hydrogen Shot [4] seeks to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80%, to $1 per 1 kilogram. CSP technologies have promising potential to contribute to all of these important goals. The 2022 conference covered important contributions in all of these areas, and more, across 15 technical tracks, coordinated and chaired by international experts in each field. We had high quality contributions across the board, including 211 oral presentations and 111 posters. Additionally, the plenary sessions brought together leading experts on energy storage, US and global markets for CSP technologies, and a specific focus on industrial decarbonization. On behalf of SolarPACES, I thank all of the conference participants, authors, presenters, track chairs, and the conference organizing committee for an extremely successful meeting! Avi Shultz Chairman of the 28th SolarPACES conference

Special Section on InterPACK2021

The International Technical Conference and Exhibition on Packaging and Integration of Electronic and Photonic Microsystems (InterPACK) is a flagship conference of ASME Electronic and Photonic Packaging Division (EPPD). It has served as an international forum within the ASME society to share and exchange latest progresses in the research, development, and applications of electronic and photonic packaging since 1992. The aim of ASME Journal of Electronic Packaging (JEP) Special Section for InterPACK is to publish outstanding papers from technical tracks of InterPACK2021, which was held virtually amid COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. This Special Section of the ASME JEP publishes nine papers presented at the InterPACK2021 in the areas of electronics and photonics packaging, micro-electronics reliability, and advanced thermal management from the silicon, package, to data center level. All nine papers published in this JEP Special Section for InterPACK2021 went through a standard peer-review process for journal papers published by ASME.The micro-electronics industry is facing challenges to meet demanding performance and functional needs of high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), 5 G/mm Wave, and power electronic devices. In order to close this gap, in parallel with new breakthroughs in advancing silicon node, the semiconductor industry is also embracing advanced integrated circuits (IC) packaging technologies, including heterogeneous integration, 2.5D/3D IC packaging, chiplet, additive manufacturing, novel modeling and characterization techniques, and others. This Special Section reflects latest progresses in the IC packaging by publishing nine papers presented at ASME InterPACK2021. We gratefully acknowledge all the authors who have revised their original conference papers for this Special Section and the reviewers who have spent tremendous time and efforts to help improve overall quality of the papers for this Special Section. We also would like to thank the ASME JEP Editor-in-Chief (EIC), Professor Shi-Wei Ricky Lee for his guidance and support, and the assistant to EIC, Dr. Jeffery Lo for his help in this journey.

Thoughts from the General Chair

DISPLAY WEEK CONTINUES TO BE THE PREEMINENT event of the global display industry. It remains the best place for researchers to present their breakthroughs, for display industry companies to present their new products, and for anyone interested in displays to gain a great foundational knowledge of current and future display technologies and trends. The pandemic has interfered with the face-to-face networking that was a big feature of the event, but it has not stopped the learning that results from attending such a multifaceted event, even if held virtually. The virtual platform includes many benefits: It is easier to access content at a pace, timeline, and repetition that best suits each attendee's needs. The ability to play and replay a key slide's narration allows an attendee to better digest new ideas and concepts. This year, we have retained the sessions’ non-real-time nature, for the convenience of speakers and attendees participating from across all time zones. But we have also added some interactivity to bring back the benefits of live, unplanned engagement. For example, author interviews allow authors and attendees to discuss papers in real time. In future Display Weeks, as we return to a physical format, we will likely retain some of the attractive digital elements developed during the virtual events. Display Week 2021 has all the usual strong and eclectic components that make it the most interesting week on the display industry calendar, with some elements taking a step up from the already high standards set in previous years. The keynotes are a notable example of this, with arguably the best lineup we have ever had, especially in terms of diversity of thought and experience. This year, for the first time, we have five keynote addresses, with one being released every day of the conference. The keynote speakers are senior executives from successful and impactful companies representing different perspectives relevant to the industry. Google and Amazon will bring the perspectives of big system companies that use displays as a platform for delivering new services to customers. Adobe will give us a preview of the future with a vision of compelling augmented reality (AR) experiences enabled by software on current and future display systems. Samsung Display will deliver the perspective of a long-time leader and innovator in the display business. Applied Materials will provide a unique point of view from a company that is a leader in the materials and manufacturing of semiconductor and traditional displays and now is at the forefront where these two industries intersect. Aside from the amazing keynotes, which enable us to start each day of the conference with a big jolt of intellectual energy, we have our usual short courses and seminars, which collectively provide the opportunity for attendees to take a deep dive into a wide range of interesting and highly relevant technical topics. The symposium offer a great overview of the state of the art in all major areas of interest to the display industry. This year features special presentation tracks that cover technologies and applications in the special interest areas of AR, virtual reality, and mixed reality; high dynamic range displays; machine learning for displays; and Internet of Things displays. Attendees will be able to view Exhibitors’ Forum presentations, which are short takes in specific product/technology areas from exhibitors. The Business Conference nicely complements the deep technical tracks, and the Women in Technology event will deliver additional leadership perspectives. Meeting content will be available to registered users for four months after Display Week concludes, so there is plenty of time to carefully parse through the information. This remains one of the largest benefits of a virtual event. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we are poised to have a great Display Week. Thank you to the many amazing people whose time and energy make this a great event and to all of you who have chosen to attend. Nikhil Balram Display Week 2021 General Chair CEO, EyeWay Vision Inc.

An international survey of Training Needs and Career Paths of Core Facility Staff.

Core facilities (CFs) provide a centralised access to costly equipment, scientific expertise, experimental design, day-to-day technical support and training of users. CFs have a tremendous impact on research outputs, skills and educational agendas, increasing the competencies of staff, researchers and students. However, the rapid development of new technologies and methodologies for the life sciences requires fast adaptation and development of existing core facilities and their technical and scientific staff. Given the scarcity of well-defined CF career paths, CF staff positions are typically filled by people having followed either academic or technical tracks. Each academic institution follows different policies and often fails to adequately recognize the merits of CF personnel and to support their training efficiently. Thus, the Core Technologies for Life Science association (CTLS), through the Training working group, has conducted an anonymous online survey to assess the training needs of CF personnel, as well as to identify common characteristics and challenges in this relatively new and dynamic career type. 275 individuals, including core managers and directors, technicians, technologists and administrators, participated in the survey. The survey was divided into 2 sections; the first, applied to all respondents, and the second, specifically targeted core management issues. Training needs in technological areas, financial and soft skills, management and administrative issues were surveyed as well. The lack of clarity and consistency regarding established career paths for CF professionals was evident from the second part of the survey, highlighting geographical or cultural differences. Gender balance was achieved and the distribution was always taken into account. The results of this survey highlight a need to develop better training resources for CF staff, to improve their recognition within academic institutions, and to establish a recognized career pathway.

An international survey of Training Needs and Career Paths of Core Facility Staff.

Core facilities (CFs) provide a centralised access to costly equipment, scientific expertise, experimental design, day-to-day technical support and training of users. CFs have a tremendous impact on research outputs, skills and educational agendas, increasing the competencies of staff, researchers and students. However, the rapid development of new technologies and methodologies for the life sciences requires fast adaptation and development of existing core facilities and their technical and scientific staff. Given the scarcity of well-defined CF career paths, CF staff positions are typically filled by people having followed either academic or technical tracks. Each academic institution follows different policies and often fails to adequately recognize the merits of CF personnel and to support their training efficiently. Thus, the Core Technologies for Life Science association (CTLS), through the Training working group, has conducted an anonymous online survey to assess the training needs of CF personnel, as well as to identify common characteristics and challenges in this relatively new and dynamic career type. 275 individuals, including core managers and directors, technicians, technologists and administrators, participated in the survey. The survey was divided into 2 sections; the first, applied to all respondents, and the second, specifically targeted core management issues. Training needs in technological areas, financial and soft skills, management and administrative issues were surveyed as well. The lack of clarity and consistency regarding established career paths for CF professionals was evident from the second part of the survey, highlighting geographical or cultural differences. Gender balance was achieved and the distribution was always taken into account. The results of this survey highlight a need to develop better training resources for CF staff, to improve their recognition within academic institutions, and to establish a recognized career pathway.

STEM-aspiraties en studiekeuze in het secundair onderwijs in Vlaanderen: de intersectie van gender en etniciteit

This article explores why some Flemish secondary school students’ study choices are content-wise not in line with their career aspirations and, to some extent, follow gender and ethnic patterns. We use 83 semi-structured interviews, conducted with students in academic and technical tracks in three Flemish secondary schools. Compared to female pupils, male pupils are more likely to enrol in lower status tracks whose curricular substance prepares them for a STEM career (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Ethnic majority female pupils seem to adjust their study choices better to their aspirations, or the other way round. However, especially when changing track or field of study, ethnic majority female pupils are more likely to adapt their aspirations consistent with gender norms. While ethnic minority female pupils are more likely than ethnic majority female pupils to have STEM aspirations, their goals do not always seem to correspond with the study choices they have made. Additionally, perceived discrimination and family aspirations further impact both study choices and aspirations of ethnic minority pupils. Gendered study recommendations and choices, favouring male pupils in STEM careers, especially make that female pupils make study choices that are in terms of curriculum not always in line with their aspirations.

Guest Editorial

This Mini-Special Issue of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES (TMTT) is devoted to the 2019 Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference (APMC 2019), Singapore, December 10–13, 2019. APMC is one of the premier international conferences in the microwave community. The conference brought in a unique mix of high-quality keynote, invited, and contributed papers by world-class speakers from academia and industry, providing an opportunity for microwave family members to exchange their visions, insights, challenges, and progress in microwaves. It received a total submission of 1064 papers covering microwave to terahertz spectrum with a variety of applications by the authors from 56 countries/regions and finally accepted 720 papers after careful and rigorous peer review. The conference consisted of 71 technical oral and poster sessions from 53 technical tracks, eight workshops/short courses, 29 invited talks, and two plenary talks. In particular, 17 special sessions are convened by session organizers to discuss emerging technologies.

Feeling at home in school: Migrant youths’ narratives on school belonging in Flemish secondary education

In Flanders, students with a migration background are highly overrepresented in the lower-status vocational and technical tracks, experience more grade retention and school and track mobility and have a higher risk of leaving school early than their native peers. The authors aim to shed light on the complexity of school belonging and its significance in these young people’s pursuit of a diploma. The analysis focuses on the lived experiences of three young individuals and reconstructs their trajectories from their point of view to illuminate their perceptions on school belonging while they (tried to) navigate their way through secondary education. Their narratives reveal how a sense of school belonging is crucial yet difficult to find. Experiences of exclusion and struggles to claim specific educational spaces as places where they ‘belong’ often result in feelings of being an outsider rather than a valued member of the school community. The journeys through secondary education are mostly recounted as trying to find a ‘ good school’ where they could ‘ fit in’.

Special Section: ICONE-26

This Special Section in this issue of the ASME Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science is dedicated to selected papers from the 26th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-26) held in London, United Kingdom, during July 22–26, 2018. The selected ICONE-26 papers were revised and reviewed to meet the journal standards and requirements.The ICONE conference is a premier global annual conference on nuclear engineering, science, and technology that has a quarter century history and is organized by the Nuclear Engineering Division (NED) of the ASME, the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME), and the Chinese Nuclear Society (CNS). The first conference, ICONE-1, was held in 1991 in Tokyo with the JSME and ASME as sponsors. In 2005, the Chinese Nuclear Society (CNS) formally joined as the third sponsor and hosted ICONE-13 in Beijing. The ICONE-series of conferences are global significant events of choice for nuclear professionals to stay technically current, follow industry trends, promote professional development, and provide a platform for information exchange and dissemination. The contributions from industry, government, and academia lead to the success of ICONE as the quality and number of the technical presentations steadily increased. In addition to the archival paper publications, ICONE assists the nuclear industry in developing future generations of nuclear professionals to meet industry needs. This is achieved through an excellent student paper competition program that includes a significant number of students from around the globe, supported and partially funded by the conference sponsors (60 finalists in total consisting of 15 students from each of the following four regions: North America, Europe, China, and Japan with Asia at large).Based on the turnout and the comments received from many of the nearly 900 registered participants, the 26th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-26), held in London, UK, was a great success. In total, 57% of the participants were from academia, 29% from the industry, and 11% from government. Geographically, the largest part of participants came from China (45%), European Union (20%, including 7% from UK), Japan (16%), USA and Canada (11%), and South Korea (6%). More than 670 final technical papers and 760 presentations were made during the ICONE-26 conference from countries worldwide in a total of 15 technical tracks. These statistics show emphatically that ICONE presents a truly worldwide view on Nuclear Power, and there is no better venue to express viewpoints or share information with likeminded professionals.The ICONE-26 organizers invited the authors to submit their revised and augmented papers for journal publication consideration. The selected final papers presented in this special section cover a wide area of topics in nuclear science and technology. Reflecting the state of the nuclear industry, there are several papers dealing with analysis, simulation, management, experiments, context evaluation, and consequences of postulated design basis and severe accidents. This special issue also contains papers related to research and development challenges into advanced reactors, fusion technology, decontamination and decommissioning, radiation protection, and other related topics.The guest editors want to warmly thank the authors and reviewers for their efforts and support in producing this journal issue. During the editorial process, the papers went through the rigorous peer-review process. The ICONE-based special issue or section of the Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science is now already traditional and we hope to continue the journal publication of selected augmented papers from the future ICONE conferences. The guest editors would like to extend their thanks to the editorial board of the journal and, in particular, the editor, Dr. Igor Pioro, for their support during the preparation of this special section. Finally, we hope that the readers enjoy this special ICONE-26 based section.Guoqiang Wang, Ph.D. ICONE-26 Conference Chair Fellow ASME Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Pittsburgh, PA 15235 e-mail: WangG@Westinghouse.comShripad Revankar, Ph.D. ICONE-26 Technical Program Chair Fellow ASME School of Nuclear Engineering,Purdue University,West Lafayette, IN 47907e-mail: shripad@purdue.eduLeon Cizelj, Ph.D. ICONE-26 Conference Co-Chair Fellow ASME Reactor Engineering Division, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia e-mail: Leon.Cizelj@ijs.siRobert Stakenborghs ICONE-26 Steering Committee Chair Fellow ASME ILD, Inc., Baton Rouge, LA 70808 e-mail: bob@ildpower.comJovica Riznic, Ph.D. ICONE-26 Organizing Committee Co-Chair Fellow ASME Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Ottava, ON K1P 59S, Canada e-mail: jovica.riznic@canada.ca

Call for papers: NORM 2018

Abstract submissions are being accepted for the 2018 ACS Northwest Regional Meeting (NORM), which will be held June 24–27 at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. The meeting will offer a broad array of symposia under 12 technical tracks, including analytical chemistry, biochemistry, chemistry education, chemistry innovation, chemical safety, environmental and green chemistry, food and wine chemistry, geochemistry, inorganic and materials chemistry, organic chemistry, physical and computational chemistry, and radiochemistry and nuclear chemistry. An innovation fair in the exhibition will feature chemistry-based start-ups and sessions on commercialization. The final program summary will be published in CE the online program will be available on May 7. Abstracts are due on March 19. To submit an abstract, visit norm2018.org or ACS’s Meeting Abstracts Programming System at maps.acs.org. For more information, visit norm2018.org.

Guest Editorial Special Issue on the 2017 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS 2017)

Welcome to this Special Issue, a collection of selected papers presented at the 2017 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS 2017), held in Baltimore, United States, 28–31 May 2017. Over 1000 delegates attended the conference, where over 700 papers were presented, selected from 1451 papers originally submitted across 15 technical tracks.

International Conference on Materials, Alloys and Experimental Mechanics (ICMAEM-2017)

International Conference on Materials, Alloys and Experimental Mechanics (ICMAEM) is an International Conferences intended to confer, share and innovation on recent developments and trends in Engineering for their research communities. Experts from the Material Science, Physics, Engineering sciences and Information Technology communities attended ICMAEM. This conference series provides an international forum to exchange experiences and the needs of a wide community, and to present and discuss recent, ongoing, and future activities. Although we are organizing first International Conference, we have taken every measure which keeps up the reputation of the college as well as Journal. Mainly, the latest developments in Material Science, Physics, Engineering Sciences and Information Technology were presented. The Mathematical models and computing for Material Science has been massively evolved since then, and along this inventions spread in to all parts of Engineering. A vibrant community of experts on a wide range of different Material Science and Engineering experiments, as well as technology explorer and industry contacts, attend and discuss the present and future challenges, and shape the future of an entire community. In such a rapidly evolving area, aiming to capture the state-of-the-art on Materials, software and computing through a collection of proceedings papers on a journal is a big challenge. Due to the large attendance, the success is enormous. Additionally, the contributions often report about studies at very heterogeneous statuses, namely studies that are completed, or are just started, or yet to be done. And by the time of conference, new ideas and explorations were discussed, suggested, and presumably have also followed previously unpredictable directions. The ICMAEM proceedings with IOP: Material Science and Engineering, in their variety and thanks to the condensed form of knowledge they offer, are what most likely will be more easily preserved for future generations, thanks to the outstanding Support of IOP for a collaboration of many Innovative ideas. The NREC (Narsimha Reddy Engineering College) centre hosted the event, and offered an outstanding location and efficient facilities for the event.

Call for papers: NORM 2017

Abstract submissions are being accepted for the 2017 Northwest Regional Meeting (NORM), which will be held June 25–28 at Oregon State University, in Corvallis, Ore. A breadth of symposia will be featured across 11 technical tracks, including undergraduate and precollege programs and a general poster session. An Innovation Fair, held in conjunction with the exposition, will provide early-stage companies and proto-ventures an opportunity to showcase their chemistry-based innovations. The final program summary will be published in CE the online program will be available on May 22. Abstracts are due on April 3. To submit an abstract, visit the meeting website or ACS’s Meeting Abstracts Programming System at maps.acs.org. For more information, visit norm2017.org.

Optical networking special issue based on selected IEEE ICOCN 2015 papers

The 14th International Conference on Optical Communications and Networks—IEEE ICOCN 2015 (http://icocn2015. nuaa.edu.cn/Default.asp)—was held in Nanjing during July 3–5, 2015. IEEE ICOCN aims to provide a premier opportunity for professionals, experts, engineers, scientists, and industrial people worldwide in the field of research, development and applications of photonics to share and exchange their experience. IEEE ICOCN 2015 included four technical tracks: (1) photonic devices and integration, (2) optical networks and transmission systems, (3) microwave photonics and analog optical systems, and (4) fiber optics, fiber devices and optical sensing. IEEE ICOCN 2015 was a 3-day event organized by Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Najing University and Najing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and was technically sponsored by IEEE Photonics Society. The conference was also supported by KEYSIGHT Technologies, ROHDE & SCHWARZ, Jiangsu Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing Society of Optical Communications and Photonic Technology, Luster LightTech Group, and Conquer Company. We accepted more than 217 papers by the authors from more than 18 countries and regions, among which 70 are invited talks. All the papers were carefully reviewed by more

Optical networks special issue based on selected IEEE ICOCN 2014 papers

The 13th International Conference on Optical Communications and Networks—IEEE ICOCN 2014 (http://www.ontrc. org/icocn/) was held in Suzhou on November 9–10, 2014. IEEE ICOCN aims to provide a premier opportunity for professionals, experts, engineers, scientists, and industrial people worldwide in the field of research, development, and applications of photonics to share and exchange their experience. IEEE ICOCN 2014 included three technical tracks: (1) optical networks, (2) optical transmission subsystems and techniques, and (3) photonic devices and integration. IEEE ICOCN 2014 was a two-day event organized by Optical Network Technology Research Center (ONTRC) in School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Soochow University. IEEE ICOCN 2014 was technically sponsored by IEEE Photonics Society. The conference was also supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Zhongtian Broadband Technology, Electronic Institute of Suzhou, and the City Government of Suzhou. We accepted more than 120 papers by the authors from more than 13 countries and regions, among which 59 are invited talks. All the papers were carefully reviewed by more than 30 Technical Program Committee (TPC) members and external reviewers, with each paper evaluated by at least two

Editorial: Journal-First Publication for the Software Engineering Community

C THE IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (TSE) and ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM) are jointly initiating a uniform approach to “journal-first” publication for the software engineering research community. The goal is to provide a mechanismwhereby research results that may be a better fit for publication via the journal review process can be broadly disseminated to the community through presentation in the technical research tracks of ACMand IEEE-sponsored conferences. As in other communities that provide a journal-first publication route (such as the VLDB conference in the database community), authors choosing this route benefit from the absence of page limits and annual submission deadlines, and the possibility of having their submissions undergomultiple rounds of review and revision. TSE and TOSEM are now considering manuscripts for review in a new submission category called Journal-First that can be selected in Manuscript Central at the time of submission. Authors of journal-first manuscripts will be required to declare that their paper qualifies for publication and presentation via the journal-first process. In short, journal-first manuscripts report research contributions that have not already been presented in prior publications. Papers that extend prior publications (particularly conference papers) by providing, for example, additional detail (proofs, algorithms, etc.) or expanded empirical evaluation that further supports the contributions of the prior publication would not qualify as journal-first. Papers that report completely new contributions or that build on prior work in substantial ways that lead to distinct and novel contributions beyond the prior work would qualify as journal-first. Ultimately, the community of reviewers and editors charged with assessing a submitted manuscript will judge whether a paper is sufficiently novel in its contributions to be considered journal-first; papers that do not qualify may be shifted to existing manuscript categories in TSE or TOSEM, and the authors will be so notified. Journal-first submissions to TSE and TOSEM will be reviewed using the same rigorous review process already in place for current submission categories, and in the same timely manner that the journals strive to maintain. Once a journal-first manuscript is accepted, it will be made available to organizers of upcoming software engineering conferences so that it may be included in a conference technical research track. TSE and TOSEM will actively promote all accepted journal-first papers for inclusion in conference programs for two years after their publication date. Conference organization is independent of TSE and TOSEM, so it is not possible to require a conference to include an accepted journal-first manuscript, nor is it possible to require an author of a journal-first manuscript to accept an invitation to present their work at a conference. Despite the lack of guarantee, this model of presenting a pool of novel technical contributions to conference organizers has already proven effective. The editorial boards of TSE and TOSEM identified a set of papers that fit the journal-first criteria and made those available to the organizers of ICSE 2015 and ESEC/FSE 2015. As a result, the authors of seven of those papers have enjoyed the opportunity to present their work at those conferences. Our hope is that creating an official journal-first manuscript category for TSE and TOSEM will both expand the number and quality of papers available to conference organizers and provide authors with a useful additional outlet for presenting their research. This will in turn help conference organizers appreciate the value of this new source of scientific content for their meetings and, ultimately, to establish long-term journal/conference relationships that provide ample outlet for journal-first research results. This journal-first initiative is a first step in maturing the software engineering publication ecosystem to one that can accommodate a richer variety of contributions and presentations, while providing all those contributions the opportunity for broad community dissemination at conferences, and providing authors all the networking and reputation-building benefits that come from conference participation.

Educational tracking and sense of futility: a matter of stigma consciousness?

During the past decade, both qualitative and quantitative research have documented strong feelings of fatalism amongst pupils enrolled in technical and vocational tracks in secondary education. Whereas those feelings have been shown to predict decreased school involvement and school misconduct, relatively little is known about their exact origins. In this paper, we explore to what extent they should be considered a stigma consciousness caused by the demeaning impact of perceived contempt to which pupils from technical and vocational tracks are exposed. Data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study from Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, N: 1967) were used to explore the distribution and consequences of perceived contempt with regard to one’s choice of study. About 20% of the pupils enrolled in technical and vocational education reported that some people looked down on them due to their studies. Moreover, even after taking into account different ability measures and social background characteristics, a strong direct relationship remained between perceived contempt and feelings of futility. In the conclusion, we elaborate on the implications of our findings.

Optical transmission subsystems and techniques special issue based on selected IEEE ICOCN 2014 papers

The 13th International Conference on Optical Communications andNetworks—IEEE ICOCN2014 (http:// http://www. ontrc.org/icocn/) was held in Suzhou on November 9–10, 2014. IEEE ICOCN aims to provide a premier opportunity for professionals, experts, engineers, scientists, and industrial people worldwide in the field of research, development, and applications of photonics to share and exchange their experience. IEEE ICOCN 2014 included three technical tracks: (1) optical networks, (2) optical transmission subsystems and techniques, and (3) photonic devices and integration. IEEE ICOCN 2014 was a two-day event organized by Optical Network Technology Research Center (ONTRC) in School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Soochow University. IEEE ICOCN 2014 was technically sponsored by IEEE Photonics Society. The conference was also supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China

Note on a Heuristic Procedure to Identify the Most Valuable Chain of Patent Priority Network

A patent portfolio is more valuable than a single patent. However, the analysis approach of a company's patent portfolio is still ambiguous. The patent priority approach (PPA) presented a clearer analysis method to explore the interior of a patent family; patent families provide an outline of the patent portfolio. A patent priority analysis (PPA) could give a better picture of the patent portfolio path, and provide technical tracks through the patent family priorities. This paper evaluates the patent family priority network (PFPN), by joining whole patent family members to PPA. The length and quantity of the patent chain represent the depth and width of the technical developments. Special nodes are also found. When the PFPN has any "merge patents", the GR of the patent chain would fail to choose the right critical chain. A burst patent node bursts one path into several paths. SSR fails to choose the correct significant chain with burst patent nodes. Although the number of priority patents claimed by each family member (GR) and the cumulative sum of the priority patents for the patent family member (SSR) fail in the special situations, PFPN still could provide a simple, precise and broadly useful approach for technical development.

How tracking structures attitudes towards ethnic out-groups and interethnic interactions in the classroom: an ethnographic study in Belgium

The influence of the ethnic composition of schools on interethnic relations and attitudes has been studied extensively and has received ample interest from policy makers. However, less attention has been paid to the structures and processes inside schools that organize interethnic relations and attitudes. In Flanders (Belgium), sec- ondary education is organized by grouping students in different tracks, which are hierarchically ordered and prepare students for different futures. Tracking in Flanders isintendedtogroupstudentsaccordingtotheirabilitiesbuttogetherwiththis,students are grouped according to their ethnic and socioeconomic background. In the present study, the interethnic relations and attitudes in each track will be explored, based on ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews in three multi-ethnic sec- ondary schools in one city. Our findings suggest that different patterns occur across three groups of tracks: the most appreciatedfields of study in academic, the intermedi- ary (less appreciated fields of study in academic and technical tracks) and vocational tracks. According to the relative sizes of ethnic groups and track specific charac- teristics, interethnic relations were characterized respectively by ethnic segregation, positive experiences of interethnic contact or ethnicconflict/tensions. Theethnic com-