cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dragon: A Placement Framework

Standard-cell placement problem has drawn extensive research attention in VLSI/CAD ever since its appearance. Nowadays, in spite of wide use of hierarchical design methodology and floorplanning, the problem of placing standard-cells remains one of the important topics. This problem is becoming more challenging because of two reasons. First, the circuit sizes are growing dramatically. The Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) suggests that we should be able to place designs containing up to one million cells within 16 hours. Such a problem size means that there exists a huge space between the optimal solution and the best solution by any known heuristic. The second reason is the multi-objective placement process. In addition to the traditional objectives such as routability and timing, more issues must be taken into account during the placement, e.g., cross talk, power. The placement problem becomes harder when considering these objectives.
Properties of fluoride microresonators for mid-IR applications.

We study crystalline fluoride microresonators for mid-infrared (mid-IR) applications. Whispering gallery mode resonators were fabricated with BaF2, CaF2, and MgF2 crystals. The quality factors were measured at wavelengths of 1.56 and 4.58 μm. The impacts of post-fabrication processing, impurities, and surface water are highlighted. The mid-IR optical losses due to multiphoton absorption are measured. It is found that MgF2 resonators have a room temperature Q-factor of 8.3×106 at a wavelength of 4.58 μm, limited by multiphoton absorption.
Transforming growth factor-beta induces a chondroitin sulfate/dermatan sulfate proteoglycan in alveolar type II cells

Alveolar type II cells can synthesize extracellular matrix (ECM) components in vitro, including proteoglycans. Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) profoundly influences ECM production and is found in areas of lung fibrosis. To determine whether type II cell proteoglycan synthesis is regulated by TGF-beta, we cultured adult rabbit type II cells with TGF-beta 1 and analyzed the synthesis of proteoglycans secreted into the culture medium. TGF-beta 1 increased 35SO4 incorporation into glycosaminoglycans of secreted proteoglycans 2.5-fold. Analysis of the intact proteoglycans revealed that TGF-beta 1 induced accumulation of a chondroitin sulfate/dermatan sulfate proteoglycan with molecular mass between 70 and 100 kDa and a core protein of 36 kDa. There were no effects on several other core proteins. Type II cells cultured with TGF-beta 1 and beta-D-xyloside, an acceptor for glycosaminoglycan polymerization, had increased glycosaminoglycan synthesis independent of the availability of core proteins. These data indicate that type II cell proteoglycan synthesis, at the levels of both core protein and glycosaminoglycans, is regulated by TGF-beta 1. We speculate that the induced 70- to 100 kDa proteoglycan is decorin, an ECM proteoglycan involved in collagen fibrillogenesis and TGF-beta binding.
SU-F-T-617: Remotely Pre-Planned Stereotactic Ablative Radiation Therapy: Validation of Treatment Plan Quality

Purpose: We propose a workflow to improve access to stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR) for rural patients. When implemented, a separate trip to the central facility for simulation can be eliminated. Two elements are required: (1) Fabrication of custom immobilization devices to match positioning on prior diagnostic CT (dxCT). (2) Remote radiation pre-planning on dxCT, with transfer of contours/plan to simulation CT (simCT) and initiation of treatment same-day or next day. In this retrospective study, we validated part 2 of the workflow using patients already treated with SABR for upper lobe lung tumors. Methods: Target/normal structures were contoured on dxCT; a plan was created and approved by the physician. Structures were transferred to simCT using deformable image registration and the plan was re-optimized on simCT. Plan quality was evaluated through comparison to gold-standard structures contoured on simCT and a gold-standard plan based on these structures. Workflow-generated plan quality in this study represents a worst-case scenario as these patients were not treated using custom immobilization to match dxCT position as would be done when the workflow is implemented clinically. Results: 5/6 plans created through the pre-planning workflow were clinically acceptable. For all six plans, the gold-standard GTV received full prescription dose, along with median PTV V95%=95.2% and median PTV D95%=95.4%. Median GTV DSC=0.80, indicating high degree of similarity between the deformed and gold-standard GTV contours despite small GTV sizes (mean=3.0cc). One outlier (DSC=0.49) resulted in inadequate PTV coverage (V95%=62.9%) in the workflow plan; in clinical practice, this mismatch between deformed/gold-standard GTV would be revised by the physician after deformable registration. For all patients, normal tissue doses were comparable to the gold-standard plan and well within constraints. Conclusion: Pre-planning SABR cases on diagnostic imaging generated clinically acceptable plans. Coupled with rapid-prototyped custom immobilization, this workflow may improve treatment access for rural patients.
Analog and TDMA Wireless Communications

This chapter focuses on the analogy and time division multiple access (TDMA) wireless communication. It has helped to fetch out the history of wireless communication from its past. The background of the wireless communication step by step is described. It has started its description with the early digital innovation, frequency modulation, digital signal process, and its related diagrams. In addition, DSP instructions often have data-shifting capabilities. That enables for the decimal point to be aligned as needed before saving data to memory. The shifting of data has also configured as a barrel shifter and, in conjunction with logical operations, used to implement many error-coding operations. Therefore, it has shown that uncompressed digital voice would require as much frequency bandwidth to transmit as the FM voice signal used in analogy mobile wireless phone systems. Generally, using digital voice compression technology, known as vocoders, the required data rate can be decreased. This chapter has also shown that the original goal of second-generation digital systems was a tenfold increase in capacity compared to AMPS. So, this process can be helpful for the further improvement of the wireless communication.
Molecular Mechanisms of Disease: The RET Proto-oncogene

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2 ) is a rare disorder with distinct clinical features that were key to the elucidation of its underlying molecular cause. Oncogenic transformation of the thyroid C-cell in MEN2 is highly penetrant and progresses through a hyperplastic process prior to malignancy. Tumor burden is assessed by the measurement of serum calcitonin levels, and thyroidectomy is the primary treatment. Clearly defined kindreds with MEN2 were used to map the causative gene to chromosome 10 and to identify mutations in the RET proto-oncogene. The discovery that MEN2 is caused by activating mutations of the RET gene has served to guide an evolving strategy of prophylactic thyroidectomy for the treatment of hereditary MTC and therapeutic strategies for sporadic MTC, where RET activation in the most commonly observed genetic defect. Thyroid C cells are known to express RET at high levels relative to most other cell types; therefore, aberrant activation of the receptor is thought to preferentially sensitize these cells to transformation. A role of RET in medullary thyroid carcinoma has also served to highlight the importance of the MAPK and PI3K signaling pathways in its initiation and progression. Newly published studies demonstrate equally important functions of RET to prevent apoptosis, perhaps allowing the survival of tumor-initiating cell populations. A growing understanding of how RET interacts with growth and death pathways in normal C-cell function, during oncogenic transformation, and finally in tumor progression has helped drive the development of molecular-targeted therapies for the treatment of metastatic medullary thyroid carcinoma.
TCTE3 is a Novel Marker for Pancreatobiliary Tumors

Objectives: Several markers of pancreatobiliary differentiation have been described in the literature; however, none have high specificity and sensitivity. Here we introduce a novel pancreatobiliary marker, T-complex-associated-testis-expressed 3 (TCTE3), which encodes a dynein light chain in cilia and flagella in sperm. Methods: 248 adenocarcinomas from 10 different locations in the gastrointestinal tract were studied, including gastroesophageal junction (GEJ; 19), stomach …
Highly Maneuverable Low-Cost Underwater Glider: Design and Development

This letter presents the design and potential impact of the developed Research Oriented Underwater Glider for Hands-on Investigative Engineering (ROUGHIE). The ROUGHIE is an open-source, highly maneuverable, and low-cost vehicle that enables rapid development and testing of new hardware and software. ROUGHIE is an internally actuated glider capable of performing steady sawtooth glides in shallow water down to 3 m, tight turns with a minimum radius of 3 m, and a minimum endurance of 60 h. The novelty of this study is twofold: 1) a rail-based design to facilitate modularity and ease of assembly and 2) an effective internal rotary mass mechanism to increase maneuverability and perform tight turns. The ROUGHIE design strategically uses 3D printed plastic parts in low stress situations, which allows extreme design flexibility and enables tightly packed modules that can be easily customized.
The Whole Community Communication Infrastructure: The Case of Los Angeles

This chapter describes The Metamorphosis Project, which aims to not only identify the whole community communication infrastructure of Los Angeles communities, but also make it accessible as a communication utility for residents, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to improve civic engagement, access to health care, intergroup relations, and urban planning. Among other elements, the project has identified the “storyteller networks” of LA communities, which offer discursive connections between residents, local media, and community organizations, and has unmasked several unmet information needs among the city’s diverse populations, including insufficient local media sources and neighborhood stigmatization trends.
Performance Evaluation of Location Management Protocols for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks.

With the availability of location based services, applications that use locations for optimal performance will require efficient location management algorithms, where user locations are kept track with minimal system overhead. Geography based routing in mobile ad hoc networks is one such application that uses location information of nodes in a network to route data packets. Previous work in this area has shown that the selection of location management protocol is critical to the performance of such routing algorithms. Many location management schemes have been proposed in literature, and in an effort to quantitatively compare the performance of some of these schemes, we carry out extensive simulations to study SLURP, SLALoM and HGRID, three grid based protocols described in literature. Our study is two pronged – to compare the performance of location management with network mobility as well as traffic load, and to evaluate the effect these protocols have on the performance of geographic routing in mobile ad hoc networks. Our results show that the Hierarchical Grid Location Management protocol (HGRID) achieves steady performance for data throughput and delay, and minimally affects the performance of geographic routing.
Evolution of the trigger and data acquisition system in the ATLAS experiment

The ATLAS detector is designed to observe proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC accelerator. The ATLAS Trigger and Data Acquisition (TDAQ) system is responsible for the selection and the conveyance of physics data, reducing the rate of stored events from the initial 40 MHz LHC frequency to several hundreds Hz. The TDAQ system is organized in a three-level selection scheme, including a hardware-based first-level trigger and second-and third-level triggers implemented as software systems distributed on commodity hardware nodes. While this architecture was successfully operated well beyond the original design goals, the accumulated experience stimulated interest to explore possible evolutions. In this paper, we report on the performance of the current system and design of the new system, with particular attention to the prototyping effort that allowed to spot possible limitations and to demonstrate benefits.
A change in landscape: Lessons learned from abandonment of ancient Wari agricultural terraces in Southern Peru

Ancient agricultural terrace practices have survived for millennia, sustaining populations through extreme climatic shifts and political regime changes. In arid regions with abrupt relief such as Southern Peru, agricultural terracing is undergoing a resurgence, as has seen revitalization of once abandoned terrace and hydraulic systems. Wari terraces at Cerro Baul provide clues to past cultural practices. They also document sustainable farming practices by using resilient land management techniques which can help combat desertification and degradation of arable lands. Three abandoned Wari terrace systems were mapped using microtopographic methods, the erosion patterns examined, the states of preservation compared, and then the design contrasted with modern terracing practices in the Moquegua Valley. In order to negate the harmful effects of desertification, rehabilitation and reconstruction of these terraces using ancient knowledge and techniques may be necessary. Rehabilitation must be conducted with consideration for preservation of cultural patrimony that may be encountered within the terrace treads or riser structures. With future climatic shifts impacting vulnerable dryland areas more than others, the ability to resiliently respond to these changes may be found in the lessons learned from ancient farming techniques such as the Wari.
Transfers of Iodine in the Soil–Plant–Air System: Solid–Liquid Partitioning, Migration, Plant Uptake and Volatilization

This chapter discusses the soil–plant–air system processes controlling the behavior of iodine. The vast majority of soil iodine is most likely adsorbed to the soil solid phase, although appreciable amounts may be released into the liquid and gaseous phases, particularly under anoxic soil conditions. From the liquid phase, iodine can be transported to surface- and groundwaters, plant roots and, consequently, the human diet. From the gaseous phase, iodine can be transported to the atmosphere where human exposure may occur due to inhalation. Iodine partitioning between all three-soil phases (solid, liquid, gas) leads to potential transfers away from the soil body, e.g., by leaching, plant uptake, and volatilization. However, partitioning into the liquid and gaseous phases clearly does occur, primarily under anoxic conditions due to the presence of poorly sorbed iodine species. Mobility of iodine under anoxic soil conditions is markedly greater than under oxic conditions. Accumulations of iodine at the boundary between anoxic and oxic soil regions are likely to occur. Volatilization of iodine, primarily as methyl iodide, occurs from both soil and plants. Again, the presence of anoxic soil conditions is likely to enhance this process. Plants with roots able to tolerate anoxic conditions (e.g., rice) tend to take up greater quantities of iodine from the soil. Although the majority of soil iodine remains adsorbed to the soil solid phase, its release into the liquid and gaseous phases does occur, enabling potential transfer pathways that are likely to increase human exposure to iodine.
‘Korean is Forbidden’: Translingual Negotiation of Local Language Ideologies Across Transnational Spaces

This chapter examines a Korean multilingual student’s language ideology and the trajectory of her transnational identity negotiations in English classes through the lens of translingual practice. The ethnographic case study highlights how a multilingual student's literacy practices brought to the classrooms were both unrecognized and challenged along with the monolingual language ideology prevalent among her peers and teacher. The analysis reveals the student's successful and unsuccessful transnational negotiations across different courses she was taking. The chapter concludes by discussing implications for research on language learning and teaching as well as world Englishes.
Evaluating predictability based on gate-in fuel prediction and cost-to-carry estimation

Abstract Predictability in the aviation system affects costs to airlines and passengers. We propose a predictability metric based on a flight's gate-in fuel (GIF) which can be directly measured and monetized by aviation stakeholders. We estimate GIF for six major U.S. airlines. Since GIF data are not directly available, we develop an estimation methodology to obtain GIF from pushback weight and fuel burn, including a conversion from passenger to weight payload based on an econometric model. The methodology accounts for aircraft operating empty weight and payload. We find that GIF varies across airlines and time of year, and is highest during the summer period. We monetize GIF through a cost-to-carry analysis as extra fuel loading results in additional fuel burn. Our estimates reveal that, in 2012, airlines spent an additional $59 million to $667 million on carrying GIF, with a total across all six airlines of $1.46 billion.
Be Quiet? Evaluating Proactive and Reactive User Interface Assistants

This research examined the ability of an anthropomorphic interface assistant to help people learn and use an unfamiliar text-editing tool, with a specific focus on as sessing proactive assistant behavior. Participants in the study were introduced to a text editing system that used keypress combinations for invoking the different editing operations. Participants then were directed to make a set of prescribed changes to a document with the aid either of a paper manual, an interface assistant that would hear and respond to questions orally, or an assistant that responded to questions and additionally made proactive suggestions. Anecdotal evidence suggested that proactive assistant behavior would not enhance performance and would be viewed as intrusive. Our results showed that all three conditions performed similarly on objective editing performance (completion time, commands issued, and command recall), while the participants in the latter two conditions strongly felt that the assistant’s help was valuable.
A multistage decision-dependent stochastic bilevel programming approach for power generation investment expansion planning

ABSTRACTIn this article, we study the long-term power generation investment expansion planning problem under uncertainty. We propose a bilevel optimization model that includes an upper-level multis...
Intersection of stress and gender in association with transitions in past year DSM-5 substance use disorder diagnoses in the United States.

Background Stress contributes to the development and maintenance of substance use disorders (SUD), with some research suggesting that the impact of stress on SUD is greater in women. However, this has yet to be evaluated in a national dataset, across major substances of abuse. Methods Using data from the newly available U.S. National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC; Wave 3; n=36,309) we evaluated relationships among past year stressful life events (0 or 1 vs. 2+ events, range 0-16) and gender, and their association with transitions (new vs. absent cases; ongoing vs. remitted cases) in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-5) alcohol use disorder (AUD), tobacco use disorder (TUD), cannabis use disorder (CUD), and nonmedical prescription opioid use disorder (OUD) diagnoses. Results Having 2 or more stressful life events in the past year increased the odds of having a new AUD, TUD, CUD, and OUD (OR=3.14, 2.15, 5.52, and 3.06, respectively) or ongoing AUD, TUD, and CUD (OR=2.39, 2.62, and 2.95, respectively) compared to 0 or 1 stressful life event. A stress by gender interaction for new vs. absent AUD demonstrated that having 2 or more stressful life events was associated with increased odds of new AUD in men (OR=2.51) and even greater odds of new AUD in women (OR=3.94). Conclusions Results highlight that stress is a robust factor in both men and women with new or ongoing substance use disorders, and that effective treatments for substance use should consider the role of stress in addiction etiology and maintenance. There was little evidence for gender differences in the role of stress on transitions in substance use disorders, except for the onset of alcohol use disorders. Given that rates of alcohol use disorders are increasing in women; the impact of stress needs to be considered.
Imaging Bacterial Cell Wall Biosynthesis

Peptidoglycan is an essential component of the cell wall that protects bacteria from environmental stress. A carefully coordinated biosynthesis of peptidoglycan during cell elongation and division is required for cell viability. This biosynthesis involves sophisticated enzyme machineries that dynamically synthesize, remodel, and degrade peptidoglycan. However, when and where bacteria build peptidoglycan, and how this is coordinated with cell growth, have been long-standing questions in the field. The improvement of microscopy techniques has provided powerful approaches to study peptidoglycan biosynthesis with high spatiotemporal resolution. Recent development of molecular probes further accelerated the growth of the field, which has advanced our knowledge of peptidoglycan biosynthesis dynamics and mechanisms. Here, we review the technologies for imaging the bacterial cell wall and its biosynthesis activity. We focus on the applications of fluorescent d-amino acids, a newly developed type of probe, to visualize and study peptidoglycan synthesis and dynamics, and we provide direction for prospective research.
Distribution of Terrestrial Ecosystems and Changes in Plant Community Composition

Plant communities have been transformed by global changes such as land-use change and biological invasion in recent decades, will drive further transformation in the coming decades. Plant species can respond to and climate change changing climates by shifting their ranges to new areas in order to track optimal conditions and/or by adapting to these changes . Future climates have the potential to alter species’ productivity, and biotic interactions. In in situ phenology addition, species’ ranges are expected to shift towards higher latitudes, tracking favorable climate conditions as the planet warms. The same trend is expected along altitudinal gradients, where species are expected to move uphill. However, distributions of communities and ecosystems depend on their individual species’ responses to climate change, and are therefore more complicated to predict. Future plant community assemblages will differ from the ones that have existed historically, and these changes could themselves influence the rate of . global climate change
Security Re-engineering for Databases: Concepts and Techniques

Despite major advancements in access control models and security mechanisms, most of today’s databases are still very vulnerable to various security threats, as shown by recent incident reports. A reason for this that existing databases used in e-businesses and government organizations are rarely designed with much security in mind but rely on security policies and mechansims that are added over time in an ad-hoc fashion. What is needed in such cases is a coherent approach for organizations to first evaluate the current secrutiy setup of a database, i.e., its policies and mechanisms, and then to re-design and improve the mechanisms in a focused way, that is, to apply an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary approach to improving database security.
An Analysis of Some Arguments

Morality can exist only when there is choice. Stated alternatively, where there is no choice there is no morality. If a commanding officer orders a soldier to either kill someone or be killed for disobeying an order, the soldier is not morally responsible for executing the person who has been chosen for execution because he has no choice.
Competition, Innovation Incentives and No-Compete Clauses

This paper sheds light on the changing nature of the firm and firm boundaries, and offers an explanation for why innovative, human capital intensive firms tend to operate in competitive environments. We develop a model in which employees' incentives to acquire human capital, a necessary input for innovation, depend on the number of firms competing for employee human capital. A key insight of our paper is that firms operating in the same industry have a higher degree of relatedness, since they invest in more compatible technologies. This implies that employees in more competitive industries develop human capital that can be transferred more easily from one firm to another and, thus, can extract more rents (i.e., greater wages) from their firms. Anticipating their higher rent extraction ability, employees invest more in human capital and innovate more. Thus, competition in the market for innovation promotes innovation. We show that, under certain conditions, firms prefer to operate in a competitive product market in order to become more innovative. In this way, competition emerges endogenously and leads to more innovation. We also show that horizontal mergers may be detrimental to innovation generation, and that firms may prefer to preserve a competitive environment in order to provide better incentives for their employees. Finally, our paper has implications for the choice of industry standards, such as open source technologies, and the adoption of contractual measures that hinder employee mobility, such as no-compete clauses.
GENE EXPRESSION AND PROTEIN METABOLISM IN INDIVIDUAL NEURONS OF APLYSIA

Publisher Summary It has been found that there are limits to the single-neuron approach to problems in neurobiology. For most of the organisms that have large neurons, genetic studies are difficult because of the long generation times involved. There is difficulty in gaining large amounts of material (large numbers of individual cells) for purification and sophisticated biochemical analysis of individual proteins. With Aplysia and many other invertebrates with large neuron somas, the actual synaptic connections are small, and the anatomy of the neuropile very complex. This limits certain kinds of studies of one of the most important aspects of neuron function. Moreover, there is no single preparation or approach that will serve to answer the variety of questions, which have been formulated in neurobiology. Also, protein synthesis and metabolism may also play a role in some of the more plastic aspects of neuron function reaffirming the need for advancements to be made in the field of protein study.
“No Gaudy Scars”: Seamus Heaney’s MID-TERM BREAK and the Speaker-Poet’s Discovery of Irony

“Mid-Term Break” (1966) is one of Seamus Heaney’s (1939–2015) best-known poems, and although criticism has justly focused on biography,1 diction, and tone,2 it has not emphasized the Christian remn...
Being pessimistic about the objective present

Some philosophers argue that non-presentist A-theories (i.e. the views that the tenses—past, present, and future—are objective features and that not only present things exist) problematically imply that we cannot know that this moment is present. The problem is usually presented as arising from the combination of the A-theoretic ideology of a privileged presentness and a non-presentist ontology. The goal of this essay is to show that the epistemic problem can be rephrased as a pessimistic induction. By doing so, I will show that the epistemic problem, in fact, stems from the A-theoretic ideology alone. Hence, once it is properly presented, the epistemic problem presents a serious threat to all A-theories.
Comparison of Droop Control and Virtual Oscillator Control Realized by Andronov-Hopf Dynamics

Virtual oscillator control (VOC) is a time-domain strategy for regulating the operation of grid-forming (GFM) inverters. The premise of this method is to leverage the dynamics of nonlinear oscillator circuits to realize controllers; the time-domain nature of the resulting implementation is starkly different from classical droop control methods. This paper considers VOC realized with the dynamics of the Andronov-Hopf oscillator, a second-order nonlinear dynamical system that enables GFM inverters to be dispatched and generate low-harmonic outputs while not compromising dynamic performance. Leveraging an equilibrium analysis of the involved dynamics and small-signal models, we put forth a side-by-side comparison of dynamic performance and small-signal stability with classical droop control. The results demonstrate superior dynamic performance of VOC, and broadly, the paper furthers efforts focused on modeling and analysis of this general class of GFM controllers.
Defend Forward and Cyber Countermeasures

When a state suffers an internationally wrongful act at the hands of another state, international law allows the injured state to respond in a variety of ways. Depending on the nature, scope, and severity of the initial wrongful act, lawful responses can range from a demand for reparations in response to a low-level violation to a forcible act of self-defense in response to an armed attack. Countermeasures offer an additional way for a state to respond to an internationally wrongful act. Countermeasures are acts that would in general be considered internationally wrongful but are justified to address the wrongdoing state’s original international law violation. The countermeasures regime can help deter international law violations ex ante and mitigate those violations ex post, offering an avenue by which states can—at least in theory—de-escalate disputes. As states increasingly employ cyber tools to commit hostile acts against their adversaries, countermeasures are poised to play a growing role in interstate relations. Many interstate activities in cyberspace fall below the use of force or armed attack threshold but nevertheless may violate international law and warrant responses from the targeted states. Understanding when and how states lawfully may deploy countermeasures and which customary limits govern the use of countermeasures is critical for states operating in the cyber arena, not only to understand their own options when injured but also to anticipate the responses that their cyber activities may trigger from other states. This essay explores the role that countermeasures can play in the U.S. cyber strategy known as Defend Forward, which calls for U.S. forces to “disrupt or halt malicious cyber activity at its source, including activity that falls below the level of armed conflict.” The United States appears to believe that most, if not all, of the Defense Department’s (DOD’s) activities under this strategy are consistent with international law. But it is possible that some of DOD’s activities might be legally controversial, particularly because the content of some customary international law norms is both vague and contested. As a result, it is worth evaluating whether and when DOD might be able to defend such actions as countermeasures under international law. The essay first explains the international law of countermeasures and examines how it has been interpreted in the cyber context. It finds that because some traditional legal requirements of countermeasures do not apply naturally to cyberspace, states are developing a lex specialis of cyber countermeasures. The essay then considers how the U.S. government could justify as cyber countermeasures certain actions taken under the Defend Forward strategy and do so in ways that do not appear unlawful to other states. It concludes by identifying how key actors can develop the law of cyber countermeasures in a direction consistent with Defend Forward.
Adaptive Focused Acoustics™ for Nanosuspensions to Enable Pharmacology Assessment of Poorly Soluble Molecules in Lead Optimization.

Abstract In Drug Discovery, pharmacology studies often require benign formulation compositions for safe administration in animal models. Here, we applied Adaptive Focused Acoustics™ (AFA) to a molecular scaffold with challenging physicochemical properties for intraperitoneal administration. Nanosuspensions can be prepared at small scales and provide broad applicability. Our results show that nanosuspension formulations prepared by AFA have improved PK performance relative to a DMSO solution formulation that is prone to precipitation in-vivo.
Analysis of Transforming Growth Factor ß Family Cleavage Products Secreted Into the Blastocoele of Xenopus laevis Embryos.

The two arms of the Transforming Growth Factor s (Tgfs) superfamily, represented by Tgfs/Nodal or Bone morphogenetic protein (Bmp) ligands, respectively, play essential roles in embryonic development and adult homeostasis. Members of the Tgfs family are made as inactive precursors that dimerize and fold within the endoplasmic reticulum. The precursor is subsequently cleaved into ligand and prodomain fragments. Although only the dimeric ligand can engage Tgfs receptors and activate downstream signaling, there is growing recognition that the prodomain moiety contributes to ligand activity. This article describes a protocol that can be used to identify cleavage products generated during activation of Tgfs precursor proteins. RNA encoding Tgfs precursors are first microinjected into X. laevis embryos. The following day, cleavage products are collected from the blastocoele of gastrula stage embryos and analyzed on Western blots. This protocol can be completed relatively quickly, does not require expensive reagents and provides a source of concentrated Tgfs cleavage products under physiologic conditions.
DETERMINANTS OF CONTRACT FARMING OF WHEAT IN FAYOUM GOVERNORATE

The research aimed mainly at identifying the determinants of contract farming in Fayoum Governorate: the overall objectives were to determine the characteristics of the respondents, and their level attitudes towards contract farming, also identifying their knowledge of its items, Support and follow-up provided to the respondents from the contracted authority, the most preferred bodies for them to contract with, and the advantages of this contract, The research also aimed to identify the most important problems facing farmers surveyed in contracting and their suggestions to overcome them, analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of contract farming, and finally defining the requirements for contract farming diffusion from their point of view. The research was conducted in Fayoum governorate, including farmers contracted with the General Administration for Seed Production of wheat in the six district. which reached to71 farmers. Data were collected through interview guided questionnaire. as well as by using the phone in case of difficulty of operating the personal interview. Percentages frequency were used to analyiz data . The most important could be summarized as follows findings: more than half of the respondents (57.7%) have a positive attitude towards change, 60.6% of them have a positive attitude towards contract farming, the most source of information on contract farming was the non-traditional, one important findings also showed that the best bodices that the respondents preferred to contract with were the governmental agencies which were General Administration for Seed Production came in the first place by 60.6%, The most important problems that faced respondents were not getting the money of crop immediately after supply, in it Follow possibility of price increasing of the crop in the market after the contracting, high costs production, as it were mentioned by 98.6%, 63.4% and 60.6%, respectively, The most important suggestions to overcome these problems were: obtaining the price of the crop immediately after supply, and guaranteeing a rewarding price for the crop, as it was stated at 98.6% and 88.7%, respectively
SU-E-T-328: Dosimetric Impact of Cobalt-Chrome Stabilization Hardware in Paraspinal Radiation Therapy

Purpose: Due to saturation, high density materials Result in an apparent density of 3.2 g/cm3 in CT images. The true density of traditional titanium stabilization rods (∼4.4 g/cm3) is typically ignored in treatment planning. This may not be acceptable for new cobalt-chrome rods with a density of 8.5 g/cm3. This study reports the dosimetric impact of cobalt-chrome rods in paraspinal radiotherapy. Methods: For titanium and cobalt-chrome rods, two planning studies were done for both IMRT and VMAT in Varian Eclipse using AAA. 1) The effect of planning without assigning the true rod density was assessed by comparing plans generated with the apparent density and recalculated with the true density for titanium and cobalt-chrome. 2) To test if TPS can compensate for high density rods during optimization. Furthermore, TPS calculation accuracy was verified using MapCheck for a single 20 x 10 cm2 field. The MapCheck was incrementally shifted to achieve measurement resolution of 1 mm. Results: PTV coverage was ∼0.3% and ∼4.7% lower in plans that were recalculated with the true rod density of titanium and cobalt-chrome, respectively. PTV coverage can be maintained if the correct density is used in optimization. Measurements showed that TPS overestimated the dose locally by up to 11% for cobalt-chrome rods and up to 4% for titanium rods if the density is incorrect. With density corrected, maximum local differences of 6% and 3% were seen for cobalt-chrome and titanium rods, respectively. At 2 cm beneath a rod, electrons scattered from the side of the rod increased the lateral dose and diminished as depth increases. TPS was not able to account for this effect properly even with the true rod density assigned. Conclusion: Neglecting the true density of cobalt-chrome rods can cause under coverage to the PTV. Assigning the correct density during treatment planning can minimize unexpected decrease in PTV dose.
Close to Home: The Impact of Media Attention on Public Health Outcomes

Though high school civics classes across the country teach students the nuts and bolts of the policy process, when it comes to learning about important issues in “the real world,” Americans tend to take their cues from their surrounding environments. Despite their apparent lack of knowledge about and general inattention to complex national issues, citizens can reason about them by using cues or shortcuts they get through daily activities such as filling up at the gas pump, talking to coworkers, or consuming media (Popkin 1991). In other words, they interpret complex issues “close to home” (Converse 1964; Eliasoph 1997). Yet for all the interdisciplinary attention focused on public knowledge and the media, we know little about how media sources close to home portray policy issues. Instead, scholars often take hard news sources like national papers (especially the New York Times) and national network news coverage (ABC, CBS, and NBC) as a proxy for media more generally.
Perceptions of child neglect among urban American Indian/Alaska native parents.

A survey of 101 American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) parents in Los Angeles was conducted to explore perceptions of child neglect among urban AIAN parents and factors associated with perceptions. Participants rated substance abuse by parents as the most serious type of neglect. Providing material necessities and providing adequate structure were ranked as the least serious types of neglect. Gender, education, marital status, and indirect experience with Child Protective Services were significantly related to perceptions of neglect among urban AIAN parents. Language: en
Bogoliubov dispersion relation and the possibility of superfluidity for weakly interacting photons in a two-dimensional photon fluid

The Bogoliubov dispersion relation for the elementary excitations of the weakly interacting Bose gas is shown to hold for the case of the weakly interacting photon gas (the ``photon fluid'') in a nonlinear Fabry-Perot cavity. The chemical potential of a photon in the two-dimensional photon fluid does not vanish. The Bogoliubov relation, which is also derived by means of a linearized fluctuation analysis in classical nonlinear optics, implies the possibility of a new, superfluid state of light. The theory underlying an experiment in progress to observe sound waves in the photon fluid is described, and another experiment to measure the critical velocity of this superfluid is proposed.
Investigating Arthur Upfield: A Centenary Collection of Essays, edited by Kees de Hoog and Carol Hetherington

Investigating Arthur Upfield: A Centenary Collection of Essays , edited by Kees de Hoog and Carol Hetherington
SU‐GG‐T‐357: Geant4 Benchmarking for IMRT Dose Calculations

Purpose: The purpose of this work is to test the accuracy of the Geant4 release 9.0 for use in IMRT patient dose calculations. This is of importance since major changes were made in the multiple scattering engine starting with Geant4 release 8.0, but the package has not since been extensively tested for low energy photons relevant for simulating patient treatments. We compare calculated dose distributions in homogeneous and heterogeneous multilayer phantoms with experiments and with results from a well‐benchmarked Monte Carlo toolkit, DPM (Dose Planning Method). Method and Materials: We investigated the ability of Geant4 to reproduce experimentally measured lateral and depth dose profiles in a homogeneous water phantom irradiated with 10×10 cm2, 30×30 cm2 and 40×40 cm2 open fields. The results were compared with both DPM and experimental data. Next, Geant4 was used to calculate dose distributions in heterogeneous phantoms consisting of slabs of water, bone and lung, paying particular attention to the handling of material interfaces. The results were compared with DPM. Results: We find that Geant4 and DPM give nearly identical results for each of the heterogeneous phantoms, agreeing to better than 2% in the depth dose through each material and the lateral dose profiles across all material boundaries. The agreement between Geant4, DPM and experimental data in the homogeneous water phantom is also quite good, with all three agreeing to within 2% in depth dose (neglecting the buildup region), and in lateral dose profiles taken at 5 and 10 cm depths (neglecting the beam penumbra). Conclusion: Homogeneous and heterogeneous phantom studies show that Geant4 yields accurate dose distributions for clinically relevant photon fields.
Toxic effect of X-irradiated medium on chick embryo cells

Abstract X-irradiated medium can damage chick embryo fibroblasts as evidenced by the inhibition of the spreading and growth of the cells and of their capacity to synthesize RSV. The damage is caused by the H 2 O 2 generated in the medium upon X-irradiation. Sodium pyruvate, serum, and conditioned medium can protect these cells from the toxic effects of irradiated medium.
School Restructuring by Teachers

School districts around the country are in the process of initiating projects to restructure their schools. A small but growing number of these projects have been initiated by teachers, but, as yet, little has been written documenting the experience of classroom practitioners involved in such efforts. This article examines the experience of a group of teachers at the Edward Devotion School in Brookline, Massachusetts during the first year of a school restructuring project. Initiated by two teachers in 1987, the Teaching Project restructured a portion of this public elementary school, altered the work of a team of thirdand fourth-grade teachers, and introduced a preservice teacher training collaborative with Wheelock College. This article highlights both the opportunities and the difficulties encountered in a teacher-initiated project. It also provides insights into the potential complexity of altering teachers' job responsibilities and describes the numerous benefits that can accrue when teachers are the ...
A note on marginal deterrence

The theory of deterrence has been concerned primarily with situations in which individuals consider whether to commit a single harmful act. For instance, a person may be deciding whether to discharge a pollutant into a lake. In some contexts, however, a person may be contemplating which of several harmful acts to commitwhether to discharge a pollutant into a lake or instead to discharge it onto the ground (where it might cause a different level of harm). In such contexts, the threat of sanctions plays a role in addition to the usual one of deterring individuals from committing harmful acts: it influences which harmful acts undeterred individuals choose to commit. Notably, undeterred individuals will have a reason to commit less rather than more harmful acts if expected sanctions rise with harm. This tendency is sometimes said to reflect marginal deterrence because an individual will be deterred from committing a more harmful act owing to the difference, or margin, between the expected sanction for it and for a less harmful act. The term “marginal deterrence” seems to be due to Stigler (1970), but the notion has been well known from the time of some of the earliest writing on sanctions. See Beccaria (1770, 32), Montesquieu (1748, Book VI, Ch. 16, 161-62), and Bentham (1789, 171). Bentham, for example, states (citing an essentially identical passage of Montesquieu) that an object of punishment is “to induce a man to choose always the least mischievous of two offenses; therefore where two offenses come in competition, the punishment for the greater offense must be sufficient to induce a man to prefer the less.” A point of the present note, however, is that considerations of marginal deterrence are not a r&on d’e^tre for sanctions to rise with harm. Optimal sanctions rise with harm in models with marginal deterrence only if one makes a particular assumption about enforcement effort-that it is of a general nature (in a sense to be defined). But this assumption also implies that optimal sanctions rise with harm in the usual models without marginal deterrence. Still, as will be noted, marginal deterrence does have a more refined implication for optimal sanctions under the assumption of general enforcement effort. To investigate marginal deterrence, I consider a simple model with monetary sanctions in which each person can do nothing or commit one of two harmful acts: either act 1, a low harm act, or act 2, a high harm act. Because individuals choose between
Biophysics: proteins hunt and gather.

Some proteins do not fold fully until they meet their functional partners. Folding in concert with binding allows an efficient stepwise search for the proper structure within the final complex.
Pulmonary function testing.

Purpose of reviewTo review the recent literature related to pulmonary function testing and how it relates to the preoperative evaluation.Recent findingsThere is increased interest in the field of pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is important to determine the clinical implications of this disease