Defeating David : looking beyond a matched strategy

This thesis builds upon existing contemporary theories that attempt to explain the outcomes of asymmetric conflict. Specifically, this thesis uses Ivan Arreguin-Toft's Strategic Interaction Theory as a baseline to identify theoretical gaps that can not only help further explain asymmetric conflict outcomes, but also provide insight into developing the proper strategy for strong actors. Arreguin-Toft contends that when the strong actor employs the correct strategy then it will win over 75 percent of conflicts against a materially weaker adversary. This leads to a fundamental question: if the strong actor uses the correct strategy against a weaker opponent, then why do strong actors still lose nearly 25 percent of the time? In an effort to identify other key variables that help explain non-conventional war outcomes, this thesis evaluates case studies where the strong actor both won and lost an asymmetric conflict after choosing the correct strategy. This study finds two other factors that are important to achieving victory in an asymmetric conflict. First, the strong actor must have a viable indigenous political authority to work by, with and through. This concept has little to do with political legitimacy. Instead, it focuses on the capacity of the host nation, with strong actor assistance, to synchronize its military and political effort to defeat the insurgency. Second, the strong actor must not only use restraint in applying direct military power, but it must also use the correct force: a cadre that is trained in conducting irregular warfare. As such, this thesis' conclusions are aligned with the belief that it is the host nation's war to win or lose-adhering to this principle provides the strong actor with the best chance of "defeating David" before losing its political will.http://archive.org/details/defeatingdavidlo1094510634US Air Force (USAF) author

Long Term Outcome of Childhood Bicuspid Aortic Valve

The most common congenital heart defect is a bicuspid aortic valve (BAV), which is often genetic and the cause is unknown. The defect occurs in only 1% of the general population. A BAV is not able to fully stop blood from leaking back into the heart, which is known as aortic regurgitation. Another common issue with a BAV is that it may be too stiff to fully open, which is known as aortic stenosis. In early childhood, children with aortic stenosis often need palliation with a balloon or surgical valvotomy. As these children develop, they may need subsequent, more definitive procedures such as a Ross procedure, insertion of a tissue valve or mechanical valve, or a valve repair. These definitive operations are used to address recurrent aortic stenosis or regurgitation. As a result, comparing the long-term complications of valve interventions in infancy was an area of considerable interest. The goal of this study was to compare whether one procedure is more effective in providing a more functional status in adulthood since comparative data on the morbidity and mortality associated with each definitive repair in a contemporaneous cohort is lacking. Clinical evidence suggests that repeat surgical procedures are very common in all surgical interventions for bicuspid aortic valve with aortic stenosis in childhood. Incidences of a greater number of aortic valve surgery is associated with a higher incidence of surgical complications and endocarditis. Long-term follow up on the odds of a composite adverse outcome are less with a Ross procedure.https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/surp2021/1011/thumbnail.jp

Ultra high temperature ceramics for hypersonic vehicle applications.

HfB{sub 2} and ZrB{sub 2} are of interest for thermal protection materials because of favorable thermal stability, mechanical properties, and oxidation resistance. We have made dense diboride ceramics with 2 to 20 % SiC by hot pressing at 2000 C and 5000 psi. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows very thin grain boundary phases that suggest liquid phase sintering. Fracture toughness measurements give RT values of 4 to 6 MPam{sup 1/2}. Four-pt flexure strengths measured in air up to 1450 C were as high as 450-500 MPa. Thermal diffusivities were measured to 2000 C for ZrB{sub 2} and HfB{sub 2} ceramics with SiC contents from 2 to 20%. Thermal conductivities were calculated from thermal diffusivities and measured heat capacities. Thermal diffusivities were modeled using different two-phase composite models. These materials exhibit excellent high temperature properties and are attractive for further development for thermal protection systems

Mapping localized surface plasmons within silver nanocubes using cathodoluminescence hyperspectral imaging

Localized surface plasmons within silver nanocubes less than 50 nm in size are investigated using high resolution cathodoluminescence hyperspectral imaging. Multivariate statistical analysis of the multidimensional luminescence dataset allows both the identification of distinct spectral features in the emission and the mapping of their spatial distribution. These results show a 490 nm peak emitted from the cube faces, with shorter wavelength luminescence coming from the vertices and edges; this provides direct experimental confirmation of theoretical predictions

Aptamer-Mediated Delivery of Splice-Switching Oligonucleotides to the Nuclei of Cancer Cells

To reduce the adverse effects of cancer therapies and increase their efficacy, new delivery agents that specifically target cancer cells are needed. We and others have shown that aptamers can selectively deliver therapeutic oligonucleotides to the endosome and cytoplasm of cancer cells that express a particular cell surface receptor. Identifying a single aptamer that can internalize into many different cancer cell-types would increase the utility of aptamer-mediated delivery of therapeutic agents. We investigated the ability of the nucleolin aptamer (AS1411) to internalize into multiple cancer cell types and observed that it internalizes into a wide variety of cancer cells and migrates to the nucleus. To determine if the aptamer could be utilized to deliver therapeutic oligonucleotides to modulate events in the nucleus, we evaluated the ability of the aptamer to deliver splice-switching oligonucleotides. We observed that aptamer-splice-switching oligonucleotide chimeras can alter splicing in the nuclei of treated cells and are effective at lower doses than the splice switching oligonucleotides alone. Our results suggest that aptamers can be utilized to deliver oligonucleotides to the nucleus of a wide variety of cancer cells to modulate nuclear events such as RNA splicing

Measurement of shower development and its Moli\`ere radius with a four-plane LumiCal test set-up

A prototype of a luminometer, designed for a future e+e- collider detector, and consisting at present of a four-plane module, was tested in the CERN PS accelerator T9 beam. The objective of this beam test was to demonstrate a multi-plane tungsten/silicon operation, to study the development of the electromagnetic shower and to compare it with MC simulations. The Moli\`ere radius has been determined to be 24.0 +/- 0.6 (stat.) +/- 1.5 (syst.) mm using a parametrization of the shower shape. Very good agreement was found between data and a detailed Geant4 simulation.Comment: Paper published in Eur. Phys. J., includes 25 figures and 3 Table

ECFA Detector R&D Panel, Review Report

Two special calorimeters are foreseen for the instrumentation of the very forward region of an ILC or CLIC detector; a luminometer (LumiCal) designed to measure the rate of low angle Bhabha scattering events with a precision better than 10$^{-3}$ at the ILC and 10$^{-2}$ at CLIC, and a low polar-angle calorimeter (BeamCal). The latter will be hit by a large amount of beamstrahlung remnants. The intensity and the spatial shape of these depositions will provide a fast luminosity estimate, as well as determination of beam parameters. The sensors of this calorimeter must be radiation-hard. Both devices will improve the e.m. hermeticity of the detector in the search for new particles. Finely segmented and very compact electromagnetic calorimeters will match these requirements. Due to the high occupancy, fast front-end electronics will be needed. Monte Carlo studies were performed to investigate the impact of beam-beam interactions and physics background processes on the luminosity measurement, and of beamstrahlung on the performance of BeamCal, as well as to optimise the design of both calorimeters. Dedicated sensors, front-end and ADC ASICs have been designed for the ILC and prototypes are available. Prototypes of sensor planes fully assembled with readout electronics have been studied in electron beams.Comment: 61 pages, 51 figure

Performance of fully instrumented detector planes of the forward calorimeter of a Linear Collider detector

Detector-plane prototypes of the very forward calorimetry of a future detector at an e+e- collider have been built and their performance was measured in an electron beam. The detector plane comprises silicon or GaAs pad sensors, dedicated front-end and ADC ASICs, and an FPGA for data concentration. Measurements of the signal-to-noise ratio and the response as a function of the position of the sensor are presented. A deconvolution method is successfully applied, and a comparison of the measured shower shape as a function of the absorber depth with a Monte-Carlo simulation is given.Comment: 25 pages, 32 figures, revised version following comments from referee

Luminometer for the future International Linear Collider - simulation and beam test results

LumiCal will be the luminosity calorimeter for the proposed International Large Detector of the International Linear Collider (ILC). The ILC physics program requires the integrated luminosity to be measured with a relative precision on the order of 10e-3, or 10e-4 when running in GigaZ mode. Luminosity will be determined by counting Bhabha scattering events coincident in the two calorimeter modules placed symmetrically on opposite sides of the interaction point. To meet these goals, the energy resolution of the calorimeter must be better than 1.5% at high energies. LumiCal has been designed as a 30-layer sampling calorimeter with tungsten as the passive material and silicon as the active material. Monte Carlo simulation using the Geant4 software framework has been used to identify design elements which adversely impact energy resolution and correct for them without loss of statistics. BeamCal, covering polar angles smaller than LumiCal, will serve for beam tuning, luminosity optimisation and high energy electron detection. Secondly, prototypes of the sensors and electronics for both detectors have been evaluated during beam tests, the results of which are also presented here.Comment: Technology and Instrumentation in Particle Physics 2011, Chicago, IL, USA. Presented June 11, 2011, and submitted to Physics Procedi