Understanding the Iranian Nuclear Equation.

Since mid-2005, the Iranian regime has embarked on a course of aggressive and public brinksmanship regarding its domestic nuclear program. This article explores this new Iranian behavior by first elucidating the range of strategic variables comprising the Iranian nuclear equation and then evaluating how recent evolutions in the international and domestic environments have altered the influence of the equation’s different variables. The analysis demonstrates that Iran’s recent brinksmanship gambit was driven largely by the regime’s desire to use the nuclear issue to garner domestic public support, and was enabled by the growing perceived inability of the international community to enact effective coercive measures against Iran. The article culminates with a recommendation that U.S. and EU policymakers seriously evaluate the hitherto dismissed alternative of accepting nuclear fuel cycle facilities on Iranian soil under the control of a multinational or international consortium. Emphasis is placed on the importance of considering such alternatives before Iran achieves nuclear technological independence

Mobilising knowledge for urban governance:the case of the Gauteng City-region observatory

The capacity to derive, analyse and communicate urban knowledge is increasingly essential for decision-makers managing the complex pressures of rapidly expanding cities. This paper examines the importance of transdisciplinary boundary organisations in generating and mobilising this knowledge. It introduces ‘urban observatories’ as an example of institutions catalysing information that can shape urban governance, considering in detail the experience of the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) in South Africa. Insights drawn from GCRO’s recent work illustrate key operational considerations for these types of boundary institutions, highlighting opportunities and challenges in shaping the knowledge systems that underpin contemporary policymaking in and for cities.</p

Atomic Surface Structure of UHV-Prepared Template-Stripped Platinum and Single-Crystal Platinum(111)

A novel method is presented for preparing ultraflat noble metal surfaces in situ under ultrahigh vacuum from thin metal films that are deposited via physical vapor deposition on commercially available silicon substrates. The method, based on template stripping of thin metal films from Si wafer surfaces, is utilized in this paper to prepare atomically smooth, uncontaminated platinum surfaces for examination by scanning-tunneling microscopy under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. As a standard for comparison, single-crystal Pt(111) surfaces are also examined. The resulting scanning-tunneling microscopy data clearly demonstrate that under the surface preparation conditions examined here, template-stripped platinum surfaces are predominantly 〈111〉 textured with a surface roughness equivalent to or better than a single-crystal Pt(111) surface

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy of Template-Stripped Au Surfaces and Highly Ordered Self-Assembled Monolayers

Template stripping of Au films in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) produces atomically flat and pristine surfaces that serve as substrates for highly ordered self-assembled monolayer (SAM) formation. Atomic resolution scanning tunneling microscopy of template-stripped (TS) Au stripped in UHV confirms that the stripping process produces a flat, predominantly 111 textured, atomically clean surface. Octanethiol SAMs vapor deposited in situ onto UHV TS Au show a c(4 x 2) superlattice with (square root 3 x square root 3) R30 degrees basic molecular structure having an ordered domain size up to 100 nm wide. These UHV results validate the TS Au surface as a simple, clean and high-quality surface preparation method for SAMs deposited from both vapor phase and solution phase

Classification for long-term survival in oligometastatic patients treated with ablative radiotherapy: A multi-institutional pooled analysis

BackgroundRadiotherapy is increasingly used to treat oligometastatic patients. We sought to identify prognostic criteria in oligometastatic patients undergoing definitive hypofractionated image-guided radiotherapy (HIGRT).MethodsExclusively extracranial oligometastatic patients treated with HIGRT were pooled. Characteristics including age, sex, primary tumor type, interval to metastatic diagnosis, number of treated metastases and organs, metastatic site, prior systemic therapy for primary tumor treatment, prior definitive metastasis-directed therapy, and systemic therapy for metastasis associated with overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and treated metastasis control (TMC) were assessed by the Cox proportional hazards method. Recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) identified prognostic risk strata for OS and PFS based on pretreatment factors.Results361 patients were included. Primary tumors included non-small cell lung (17%), colorectal (19%), and breast cancer (16%). Three-year OS was 56%, PFS was 24%, and TMC was 72%. On multivariate analysis, primary tumor, interval to metastases, treated metastases number, and mediastinal/hilar lymph node, liver, or adrenal metastases were associated with OS. Primary tumor site, involved organ number, liver metastasis, and prior primary disease chemotherapy were associated with PFS. OS RPA identified five classes: class 1: all breast, kidney, or prostate cancer patients (BKP) (3-year OS 75%, 95% CI 66-85%); class 2: patients without BKP with disease-free interval of 75+ months (3-year OS 85%, 95% CI 67-100%); class 3: patients without BKP, shorter disease-free interval, ≤ two metastases, and age &lt; 62 (3-year OS 55%, 95% CI 48-64%); class 4: patients without BKP, shorter disease-free interval, ≥ three metastases, and age &lt; 62 (3-year OS 38%, 95% CI 24-60%); class 5: all others (3-year OS 13%, 95% CI 5-35%). Higher biologically effective dose (BED) (p &lt; 0.01) was associated with OS.ConclusionsWe identified clinical factors defining oligometastatic patients with favorable outcomes, who we hypothesize are most likely to benefit from metastasis-directed therapy