Treatment-Plan Comparison of Three Advanced Radiation Treatment Modalities for Fractionated Stereotactic Radiotherapy to the Head and Neck

Purpose: Fractionated stereotactic radiosurgery (FSRS) can be given with at least three modalities: Gamma Knife, with the noninvasive frameless extend system (GKE);linear accelerator-based volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT);and intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT). We extracted treatment plans for patients who had received FSRS with GKE for recurrent skull base or intracranial tumors, created corresponding plans for VMAT and IMPT, and compared the quality of the three sets of plans. Methods and materials: Plans were extracted for 9 patients with recurrent malignant skull-base tumors (n = 6) or large intracranial tumors (n = 3) who had received FSRS with GKE (median dose 24 Gy in 3 fractions) in 2013 through 2015. Plans for VMAT were generated with a TrueBeam STx LINAC machine using 6-MV photons, and plans for IMPT were generated with multi-field optimization. The optimized VMAT and IMPT plans were normalized to achieve the best possible target coverage while meeting the same dose-volume constraints on organs at risk (OARs) as the GKE plans. Plans were evaluated on the basis of target coverage, conformity index, homogeneity index, gradient index, and treatment efficiency. Results: The median target volume was 10.2 cm3 (range 1.9 - 33.8 cm3). The VMAT and IMPT plans met all OAR constraints, and target coverage and conformity were comparable among all plans. VMAT and IMPT plans showed significantly better target uniformity and treatment delivery efficiency (P P Conclusion: FSRS for skull base and large intracranial lesions delivered by VMAT and IMPT can achieve comparable target coverage, conformity, and sparing of critical structure as the GKE while providing superior target uniformity and treatment delivery efficiency. The GKE had superior high-dose gradients outside the target and thus better protected surrounding normal structures.

Zero-correlation linear attack on reduced-round SKINNY

At ToSC 2019,Ankele et al.proposed a novel idea for constructing zero-correlation linear distinguishers in a related-tweakey model.This paper further clarifies this principle and gives a search model for zero-correlation distin-guishers.As a result,for the first time,the authors construct 14-round and 16-round zero-correlation linear distinguishers for SKINNY-n-2n and SKINNY-n-3n,respectively,which are both two rounds longer than Anekele et al.'s.Based on these distinguishers,the paper presents related-tweakey zero-correlation linear attacks on 21-round SKINNY-n-2n and 25-round SKINNY-n-3n,respectively.

Zero-correlation linear attack on reduced-round SKINNY

Erratum to:Front.Comput.Sci.,2023,17(4):174808.DOI 10.1007/s11704-022-2206-2.The conditions of Proposition 3 in this paper are insufficient.The proposition is corrected as follows.Proposition 3 Given a pair of input plaintext and output masks(Γ_(0),Γ_(r))of the r-round block cipher SKINNY-n-pn,for any linear trail Γ of the linear approximation Γ_(0)→Γ_(r) and for the cell position i,if the number of nonzero elements in its Γ sequence is greater than 0 and less than p+1,then the cipher has a zero-correlation linear hull.

Effective and selective adsorption of uranyl ions by porous polyethylenimine-functionalized carboxylated chitosan/oxidized activated charcoal composite

Composite materials have elicited much interest because of their superior performance in the removal of toxic and radioactive uranyl ions from aqueous solutions.With polyethyleneimine as a functional group,carboxylated chitosan as a matrix,and oxidizing activated carbon as a nanofiller,this study synthesized a novel environment-friendly polyethylenimine-functionalized carboxylated chitosan/oxidized activated charcoal(PCO)biocomposite with a unique three-dimensional porous structure.PCO was synthesized through an easy chemical cross-linking method.Detailed characterization certified the formation of the unique three-dimensional porous structure.The obtained PCO was used to remove uranyl ions from an aqueous solution,demonstrating the maximum adsorption capacity of 450 mg·g^(−1).The adsorption capacity of PCO decreased by less than 7.51%after five adsorption-desorption cycles.PCO exhibited good adsorption selectivity(K_(d)=3.45×10^(4) mL·g^(−1))for uranyl ions.The adsorption mechanism of PCO was also discussed.The material showed good potential for application in the treatment of wastewater containing uranyl ions.