Searches for Supersymmetry with the ATLAS Detector

This is a review of searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The review covers results that have been published, or submitted for publication, up to September 2012, many of which cover the full 7 TeV data-taking period. No evidence for SUSY has been seen; some possibilities for future directions are discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures. Invited review article for Modern Physics Letters A. Electronic version of an article published as Mod. Phys. Lett. A, Vol. 27, No. 32 (2012) 1230033 DOI: 10.1142/S0217732312300339 copyright World Scientific Publishing Company http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscinet/mpl

Experimental philosophy leading to a small scale digital data base of the conterminous United States for designing experiments with remotely sensed data

Research using satellite remotely sensed data, even within any single scientific discipline, often lacked a unifying principle or strategy with which to plan or integrate studies conducted over an area so large that exhaustive examination is infeasible, e.g., the U.S.A. However, such a series of studies would seem to be at the heart of what makes satellite remote sensing unique, that is the ability to select for study from among remotely sensed data sets distributed widely over the U.S., over time, where the resources do not exist to examine all of them. Using this philosophical underpinning and the concept of a unifying principle, an operational procedure for developing a sampling strategy and formal testable hypotheses was constructed. The procedure is applicable across disciplines, when the investigator restates the research question in symbolic form, i.e., quantifies it. The procedure is set within the statistical framework of general linear models. The dependent variable is any arbitrary function of remotely sensed data and the independent variables are values or levels of factors which represent regional climatic conditions and/or properties of the Earth's surface. These factors are operationally defined as maps from the U.S. National Atlas (U.S.G.S., 1970). Eighty-five maps from the National Atlas, representing climatic and surface attributes, were automated by point counting at an effective resolution of one observation every 17.6 km (11 miles) yielding 22,505 observations per map. The maps were registered to one another in a two step procedure producing a coarse, then fine scale registration. After registration, the maps were iteratively checked for errors using manual and automated procedures. The error free maps were annotated with identification and legend information and then stored as card images, one map to a file. A sampling design will be accomplished through a regionalization analysis of the National Atlas data base (presently being conducted). From this analysis a map of homogeneous regions of the U.S.A. will be created and samples (LANDSAT scenes) assigned by region

Italian Science Case for ALMA Band 2+3

The Premiale Project "Science and Technology in Italy for the upgraded ALMA Observatory - iALMA" has the goal of strengthening the scientific, technological and industrial Italian contribution to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the largest ground based international infrastructure for the study of the Universe in the microwave. One of the main objectives of the Science Working Group (SWG) inside iALMA, the Work Package 1, is to develop the Italian contribution to the Science Case for the ALMA Band 2 or Band 2+3 receiver. ALMA Band 2 receiver spans from ~67 GHz (bounded by an opaque line complex of ozone lines) up to 90 GHz which overlaps with the lower frequency end of ALMA Band 3. Receiver technology has advanced since the original definition of the ALMA frequency bands. It is now feasible to produce a single receiver which could cover the whole frequency range from 67 GHz to 116 GHz, encompassing Band 2 and Band 3 in a single receiver cartridge, a so called Band 2+3 system. In addition, upgrades of the ALMA system are now foreseen that should double the bandwidth to 16 GHz. The science drivers discussed below therefore also discuss the advantages of these two enhancements over the originally foreseen Band 2 system.Comment: 43 pages, 21 figure

Strongly quadrature-dependent noise in superconducting micro-resonators measured at the vacuum-noise limit

We measure frequency- and dissipation-quadrature noise in superconducting lithographed microwave resonators with sensitivity near the vacuum noise level using a Josephson parametric amplifier. At an excitation power of 100~nW, these resonators show significant frequency noise caused by two-level systems. No excess dissipation-quadrature noise (above the vacuum noise) is observed to our measurement sensitivity. These measurements demonstrate that the excess dissipation-quadrature noise is negligible compared to vacuum fluctuations, at typical readout powers used in micro-resonator applications. Our results have important implications for resonant readout of various devices such as detectors, qubits and nano-mechanical oscillators.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Bandwidth and dynamic range of a widely tunable Josephson parametric amplifier

The ability to manipulate quantum information encoded in microwave fields has led to a renewed interest in Josephson parametric amplifiers (JPAs). For these applications the ability of JPAs to amplify signals with the least amount of added noise is critical. Unfortunately JPAs are typically narrow band amplifiers with small dynamic range. It is therefore important to understand the bandwidth and dynamic range of any particular JPA in order to determine if it is appropriate for these applications. We recently introduced a new kind of JPA. Although it is still narrow band, the amplified band can be tuned over a full octave. We have shown that it has good noise performance and can squeeze the vacuum noise by 10 dB. Here we characterize other important parameters of this amplifier, specifically the signal-bandwidth, dynamic range and saturation power.Comment: Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity; Special Issue from the Applied Superconductivity Conferenc

Inside the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium: Part 1 - Kidney cancer

The American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, Moscone West Building, San Francisco, CA, USA, 7-9 January 2016 The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, held in San Francisco (CA, USA), from 7 to 9 January 2016, focused on 'patient-centric care: translating research to results'. Every year, this meeting is a must for anyone studying genitourinary tumors to keep abreast of the most recent innovations in this field, exchange views on behaviors customarily adopted in daily clinical practice, and discuss future topics of scientific research. This two-part report highlights the key themes presented at the 2016 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, with part 1 reporting the main novelties of kidney cancer and part 2 discussing the most relevant issues which have emerged for bladder and prostate tumors

evidence for polyclonal origin of multifocal clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Purpose: Renal cell carcinomas are often multifocal. We investigated the genomic signatures of multifocal clear cell renal cell carcinoma to determine whether multiple tumors in the same kidney bear a clonal relationship to one another. Experimental Design: A total of 62 tumors from 26 patients who underwent radical nephrectomy were examined. All patients had multiple separate clear cell renal carcinomas. Loss of heterozygosity analyses were done using five microsatellite polymorphic markers that represent putative tumor suppressor genes on chromosome 3p14 (D3S1300), 7q31 (D7S522), 8p22 (D8S261), 9p21 (D9S171), and 17p13 ( TP53 ). X chromosome inactivation analyses were also done on the renal tumors from the 10 female patients. Chromosome 3p deletion status was determined by dual color interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis in all tumors. Results: Nineteen of the 26 (73%) patients with multifocal clear cell renal cell carcinoma showed allelic loss in at least 1 of 5 microsatellite loci in separate tumors analyzed. A disconcordant pattern of allelic loss between coexisting kidney tumors was observed in 7 cases. Six cases showed discordant 3p deletion patterns by dual color interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis. Of the eight informative female cases studied by X chromosome inactivation, one showed a discordant nonrandom pattern of X chromosome inactivation. Overall, evidence of independent origin of the multifocal renal tumors was observed in 12 of 26 cases (46%). Conclusions: Our data suggest that in a significant number of cases of multifocal clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the spatially separate tumors are of different clonal origin and arise independently

Androgen Receptor Signaling Pathway in Prostate Cancer: From Genetics to Clinical Applications

Around 80-90% of prostate cancer (PCa) cases are dependent on androgens at initial diagnosis; hence, androgen ablation therapy directed toward a reduction in serum androgens and the inhibition of androgen receptor (AR) is generally the first therapy adopted. However, the patient's response to androgen ablation therapy is variable, and 20-30% of PCa cases become castration resistant (CRPCa). Several mechanisms can guide treatment resistance to anti-AR molecules. In this regard, AR-dependent and -independent resistance mechanisms can be distinguished within the AR pathway. In this article, we investigate the multitude of AR signaling aspects, encompassing the biological structure of AR, current AR-targeted therapies, mechanisms driving resistance to AR, and AR crosstalk with other pathways, in an attempt to provide a comprehensive review for the PCa research community. We also summarize the new anti-AR drugs approved in non-metastatic castration-resistant PCa, in the castration-sensitive setting, and combination therapies with other drugs