Model International Mobility Convention

While people are as mobile as they ever were in our globalized world, the movement of people across borders lacks global regulation. This leaves many refugees in protracted displacement and many migrants unprotected in irregular and dire situations. Meanwhile, some states have become concerned that their borders have become irrelevant. International mobility—the movement of individuals across borders for any length of time as visitors, students, tourists, labor migrants, entrepreneurs, long-term residents, asylum seekers, or refugees—has no common definition or legal framework. To address this key gap in international law, and the growing gaps in protection and responsibility that are leaving people vulnerable, the "Model International Mobility Convention" proposes a framework for mobility with the goals of reaffirming the existing rights afforded to mobile people (and the corresponding rights and responsibilities of states) as well as expanding those basic rights where warranted. In 213 articles divided over eight chapters, the Convention establishes both the minimum rights afforded to all people who cross state borders as visitors, and the special rights afforded to tourists, students, migrant workers, investors and residents, forced migrants, refugees, migrant victims of trafficking and migrants caught in countries in crisis. Some of these categories are covered by existing international legal regimes. However, in this Convention these groups are for the first time brought together under a single framework. An essential feature of the Convention is that it is cumulative. This means, for the most part, that the chapters build on and add rights to the set of rights afforded to categories of migrants covered by earlier chapters. The Convention contains not only provisions that afford rights to migrants and, to a lesser extent, States (such as the right to decide who can enter and remain in their territory). It also articulates the responsibilities of migrants vis-à-vis States and the rights and responsibilities of different institutions that do not directly respond to a right held by migrants

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Computational Thermochemistry and Benchmarking of Reliable Methods

During the first and second years of the Computational Thermochemistry and Benchmarking of Reliable Methods project, we completed several studies using the parallel computing capabilities of the NWChem software and Molecular Science Computing Facility (MSCF), including large-scale density functional theory (DFT), second-order Moeller-Plesset (MP2) perturbation theory, and CCSD(T) calculations. During the third year, we continued to pursue the computational thermodynamic and benchmarking studies outlined in our proposal. With the issues affecting the robustness of the coupled cluster part of NWChem resolved, we pursued studies of the heats-of-formation of compounds containing 5 to 7 first- and/or second-row elements and approximately 10 to 14 hydrogens. The size of these systems, when combined with the large basis sets (cc-pVQZ and aug-cc-pVQZ) that are necessary for extrapolating to the complete basis set limit, creates a formidable computational challenge, for which NWChem on NWMPP1 is well suited

Software for the frontiers of quantum chemistry:An overview of developments in the Q-Chem 5 package

This article summarizes technical advances contained in the fifth major release of the Q-Chem quantum chemistry program package, covering developments since 2015. A comprehensive library of exchange–correlation functionals, along with a suite of correlated many-body methods, continues to be a hallmark of the Q-Chem software. The many-body methods include novel variants of both coupled-cluster and configuration-interaction approaches along with methods based on the algebraic diagrammatic construction and variational reduced density-matrix methods. Methods highlighted in Q-Chem 5 include a suite of tools for modeling core-level spectroscopy, methods for describing metastable resonances, methods for computing vibronic spectra, the nuclear–electronic orbital method, and several different energy decomposition analysis techniques. High-performance capabilities including multithreaded parallelism and support for calculations on graphics processing units are described. Q-Chem boasts a community of well over 100 active academic developers, and the continuing evolution of the software is supported by an “open teamware” model and an increasingly modular design

Does Respect for Migrant Rights Contribute to Economic Development?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes rights as the "foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world." Human rights give expression to the inherent dignity and equality of all human beings; they need not be justified on instrumental terms. Perhaps for this reason, the question of whether respect for migrant rights has economic benefits for countries of origin or destination has received scant attention in the academic and policy literature. But since policymakers will be more likely to protect and promote migrants' rights if they have economic incentives to do so, this is an important issue to consider. Respect for rights in migrant-sending countries can help to secure remittances, attract other forms of diaspora investment, and effect social and political change. Rights-respecting countries tend to be politically stable and better able to develop and retain human capital - important factors in the decision-making calculus of investors. Strong institutions and the rule of law also assure foreign and diaspora investors that regulations will be fair and transparent, that property rights will be honored, that agreements will be enforced, and the investment environment will be predictable. Low levels of corruption incentivize financial remittances by ensuring that monies will be used as intended. And this process can be mutually reinforcing: values, norms, knowledge, or skills imparted by the disapora (sometimes called "social remittances") can help strengthen rights, gender equality and core institutions in sending countries

Immigration Enforcement in the United States: The Rise of a Formidable Machinery

The US government spends more on federal immigration enforcement than on all other principal federal criminal law enforcement agencies combined, and has allocated nearly $187 billion for immigration enforcement since 1986. Deportations have reached record highs, border apprehensions 40-year lows, and more noncitizens than ever before are in immigration detention. The report traces the evolution of the immigration enforcement system, particularly in the post-9/11 era, in terms of budgets, personnel, enforcement actions, and technology -- analyzing how individual programs and policies have resulted in a complex, interconnected, cross-agency system