Encircled Angular Flux Representation of the Modal Power Distribution and its Behavior in a Step Index Multimode Fiber

The optical properties of in-line optical components inserted at the input to a multimode optical fiber (MMF) strongly affect the propagating modal power distribution (MPD). To realize stable systems with predictable reproducible performance and to encourage widespread use of MMF systems, improvements to the system design process and to the characterization process need to be made and new interface standards need to be defined. To this end, we have developed a new reproducible MPD measurement and representation together with its theoretical definition. By modifying the encircled flux (EF) representation, which is based on the near-field pattern of a graded-index multimode optical fiber (GI-MMF), we define the encircled angular flux (EAF) for step-index multimode optical fibers (SI-MMFs) based on their far-field patterns (FFPs). Using a SI-MMF, which is used for low cost short distance interconnects, as an example, we show the changes in the MPD along the fiber, reveal an unusual insertion loss-increasing phenomenon due to the evanescent tails of the core modes extending into the cladding, and characterize the equilibrium mode distribution (EMD) in the fiber. The EAF representation enables these phenomena to be quantified. We also propose an EAF template that consists of the target EMD and its tolerance. If device system designers use the EAF template to set the launch conditions, they can perform a fair assessment of the components, and they can design the system performance even if some components are replaced with others from a different supplier manufactured by a different method. We call this concept “Total MPD Management.

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Understanding the HERA Phase i receiver system with simulations and its impact on the detectability of the EoR delay power spectrum

The detection of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) delay power spectrum using a "foreground avoidance method" highly depends on the instrument chromaticity. The systematic effects induced by the radio-telescope spread the foreground signal in the delay domain, which contaminates the EoR window theoretically observable. Applied to the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), this paper combines detailed electromagnetic and electrical simulations in order to model the chromatic effects of the instrument, and quantify its frequency and time responses. In particular, the effects of the analogue receiver, transmission cables, and mutual coupling are included. These simulations are able to accurately predict the intensity of the reflections occurring in the 150-m cable which links the antenna to the back-end. They also show that electromagnetic waves can propagate from one dish to another one through large sections of the array due to mutual coupling. The simulated system time response is attenuated by a factor $10^{4}$ after a characteristic delay which depends on the size of the array and on the antenna position. Ultimately, the system response is attenuated by a factor $10^{5}$ after 1400 ns because of the reflections in the cable, which corresponds to characterizable ${k_\parallel}$-modes above 0.7 $h\;\rm{Mpc}^{-1}$ at 150 MHz. Thus, this new study shows that the detection of the EoR signal with HERA Phase I will be more challenging than expected. On the other hand, it improves our understanding of the telescope, which is essential to mitigate the instrument chromaticity

Neutrinos from Stored Muons nuSTORM: Expression of Interest

The nuSTORM facility has been designed to deliver beams of electron and muon neutrinos from the decay of a stored muon beam with a central momentum of 3.8 GeV/c and a momentum spread of 10%. The facility is unique in that it will: serve the future long- and short-baseline neutrino-oscillation programmes by providing definitive measurements of electron-neutrino- and muon-neutrino-nucleus cross sections with percent-level precision; allow searches for sterile neutrinos of exquisite sensitivity to be carried out; and constitute the essential first step in the incremental development of muon accelerators as a powerful new technique for particle physics. Of the world's proton-accelerator laboratories, only CERN and FNAL have the infrastructure required to mount nuSTORM. Since no siting decision has yet been taken, the purpose of this Expression of Interest (EoI) is to request the resources required to: investigate in detail how nuSTORM could be implemented at CERN; and develop options for decisive European contributions to the nuSTORM facility and experimental programme wherever the facility is sited. The EoI defines a two-year programme culminating in the delivery of a Technical Design Report

Light sterile neutrino sensitivity at the nuSTORM facility

A facility that can deliver beams of electron and muon neutrinos from the decay of a stored muon beam has the potential to unambiguously resolve the issue of the evidence for light sterile neutrinos that arises in short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments and from estimates of the effective number of neutrino flavors from fits to cosmological data. In this paper, we show that the nuSTORM facility, with stored muons of 3.8 GeV/c ± 10%, will be able to carry out a conclusive muon neutrino appearance search for sterile neutrinos and test the LSND and MiniBooNE experimental signals with 10σ sensitivity, even assuming conservative estimates for the systematic uncertainties. This experiment would add greatly to our knowledge of the contribution of light sterile neutrinos to the number of effective neutrino flavors from the abundance of primordial helium production and from constraints on neutrino energy density from the cosmic microwave background. The appearance search is complemented by a simultaneous muon neutrino disappearance analysis that will facilitate tests of various sterile neutrino models

Primary Extracranial Meningiomas: An Analysis of 146 Cases

Primary extracranial meningiomas are rare neoplasms, frequently misdiagnosed, resulting in inappropriate clinical management. To date, a large clinicopathologic study has not been reported. One hundred and forty-six cases diagnosed between 1970 and 1999 were retrieved from the files of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Histologic features were reviewed, immunohistochemistry analysis was performed (n = 85), and patient follow-up was obtained (n = 110). The patients included 74 (50.7%) females and 72 (49.3%) males. Tumors of the skin were much more common in males than females (1.7:1). There was an overall mean age at presentation of 42.4 years, with a range of 0.3–88 years. The overall mean age at presentation was significantly younger for skin primaries (36.2 years) than for ear (50.1 years) and nasal cavity (47.1 years) primaries. Symptoms were in general non-specific and reflected the anatomic site of involvement, affecting the following areas in order of frequency: scalp skin (40.4%), ear and temporal bone (26%), and sinonasal tract (24%). The tumors ranged in size from 0.5 up to 8 cm, with a mean size of 2.3 cm. Histologically, the majority of tumors were meningothelial (77.4%), followed by atypical (7.5%), psammomatous (4.1%) and anaplastic (2.7%). Psammoma bodies were present in 45 tumors (30.8%), and bone invasion in 31 (21.2%) of tumors. The vast majority were WHO Grade I tumors (87.7%), followed by Grade II (9.6%) and Grade III (2.7%) tumors. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells labeled for EMA (76%; 61/80), S-100 protein (19%; 15/78), CK 7 (22%; 12/55), and while there was ki-67 labeling in 27% (21/78), <3% of cells were positive. The differential diagnosis included a number of mesenchymal and epithelial tumors (paraganglioma, schwannoma, carcinoma, melanoma, neuroendocrine adenoma of the middle ear), depending on the anatomic site of involvement. Treatment and follow-up was available in 110 patients: Biopsy, local excision, or wide excision was employed. Follow-up time ranged from 1 month to 32 years, with an average of 14.5 years. Recurrences were noted in 26 (23.6%) patients, who were further managed by additional surgery. At last follow-up, recurrent disease was persistent in 15 patients (mean, 7.7 years): 13 patients were dead (died with disease) and two were alive; the remaining patients were disease free (alive 60, mean 19.0 years, dead 35, mean 9.6 years). There is no statistically significant difference in 5-year survival rates by site: ear and temporal bone: 83.3%; nasal cavity: 81.8%; scalp skin: 78.5%; other sites: 65.5% (P = 0.155). Meningiomas can present in a wide variety of sites, especially within the head and neck region. They behave as slow-growing neoplasms with a good prognosis, with longest survival associated with younger age, and complete resection. Awareness of this diagnosis in an unexpected location will help to avoid potential difficulties associated with the diagnosis and management of these tumors

A systematic review of grandparents’ influence on grandchildren’s cancer risk factors

Many lifestyle patterns are established when children are young. Research has focused on the potential role of parents as a risk factor for non communicable disease in children, but there is limited investigation of the role of other caregivers, such as grandparents. The aim of this review was to identify and synthesise evidence for any influence grandparents&rsquo; care practices may have on their grandchildren&rsquo;s long term cancer risk factors. A systematic review was carried out with searches across four databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO) as well as searches of reference lists and citing articles, and Google Scholar. Search terms were based on six areas of risk that family care could potentially influence&ndash;weight, diet, physical activity, tobacco, alcohol and sun exposure. All study designs were included, as were studies that provided an indication of the interaction of grandparents with their grandchildren. Studies were excluded if grandparents were primary caregivers and if children had serious health conditions. Study quality was assessed using National Institute for Health and Care Excellence checklists. Grandparent impact was categorised as beneficial, adverse, mixed or as having no impact. Due to study heterogeneity a meta-analysis was not possible. Qualitative studies underwent a thematic synthesis of their results. Results from all included studies indicated that there was a sufficient evidence base for weight, diet, physical activity and tobacco studies to draw conclusions about grandparents&rsquo; influence. One study examined alcohol and no studies examined sun exposure. Evidence indicated that, overall, grandparents had an adverse impact on their grandchildren&rsquo;s cancer risk factors. The theoretical work in the included studies was limited. Theoretically underpinned interventions designed to reduce these risk factors must consider grandparents&rsquo; role, as well as parents&rsquo;, and be evaluated robustly to inform the evidence base further

A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Effects of Counseling and Alarm Device on HAART Adherence and Virologic Outcomes

Michael Chung and colleagues show that intensive early adherence counseling at HAART initiation resulted in sustained, significant impact on adherence and virologic treatment failure, whereas use of an alarm device had no effect

Biogenesis and Dynamics of Mitochondria during the Cell Cycle: Significance of 3′UTRs

Nowadays, we are facing a renaissance of mitochondria in cancer biology. However, our knowledge of the basic cell biology and on the timing and mechanisms that control the biosynthesis of mitochondrial constituents during progression through the cell cycle of mammalian cells remain largely unknown. Herein, we document the in vivo changes on mitochondrial morphology and dynamics that accompany cellular mitosis, and illustrate the following key points of the biogenesis of mitochondria during progression of liver cells through the cycle: (i) the replication of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes is synchronized during cellular proliferation, (ii) the accretion of OXPHOS proteins is asynchronously regulated during proliferation being the synthesis of β-F1-ATPase and Hsp60 carried out also at G2/M and, (iii) the biosynthesis of cardiolipin is achieved during the S phase, although full development of the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) is attained at G2/M. Furthermore, we demonstrate using reporter constructs that the mechanism regulating the accretion of β-F1-ATPase during cellular proliferation is controlled at the level of mRNA translation by the 3′UTR of the transcript. The 3′UTR-driven synthesis of the protein at G2/M is essential for conferring to the daughter cells the original phenotype of the parental cell. Our findings suggest that alterations on this process may promote deregulated β-F1-ATPase expression in human cancer

Transcriptomic Characterization of a Synergistic Genetic Interaction during Carpel Margin Meristem Development in Arabidopsis thaliana

In flowering plants the gynoecium is the female reproductive structure. In Arabidopsis thaliana ovules initiate within the developing gynoecium from meristematic tissue located along the margins of the floral carpels. When fertilized the ovules will develop into seeds. SEUSS (SEU) and AINTEGUMENTA (ANT) encode transcriptional regulators that are critical for the proper formation of ovules from the carpel margin meristem (CMM). The synergistic loss of ovule initiation observed in the seu ant double mutant suggests that SEU and ANT share overlapping functions during CMM development. However the molecular mechanism underlying this synergistic interaction is unknown. Using the ATH1 transcriptomics platform we identified transcripts that were differentially expressed in seu ant double mutant relative to wild type and single mutant gynoecia. In particular we sought to identify transcripts whose expression was dependent on the coordinated activities of the SEU and ANT gene products. Our analysis identifies a diverse set of transcripts that display altered expression in the seu ant double mutant tissues. The analysis of overrepresented Gene Ontology classifications suggests a preponderance of transcriptional regulators including multiple members of the REPRODUCTIVE MERISTEMS (REM) and GROWTH-REGULATING FACTOR (GRF) families are mis-regulated in the seu ant gynoecia. Our in situ hybridization analyses indicate that many of these genes are preferentially expressed within the developing CMM. This study is the first step toward a detailed description of the transcriptional regulatory hierarchies that control the development of the CMM and ovule initiation. Understanding the regulatory hierarchy controlled by SEU and ANT will clarify the molecular mechanism of the functional redundancy of these two genes and illuminate the developmental and molecular events required for CMM development and ovule initiation