Ultrasmall volume Plasmons - yet with complete retardation effects

Nano particle-plasmons are attributed to quasi-static oscillation with no wave propagation due to their subwavelength size. However, when located within a band-gap medium (even in air if the particle is small enough), the particle interfaces are acting as wave-mirrors, incurring small negative retardation. The latter when compensated by a respective (short) propagation within the particle substantiates a full-fledged resonator based on constructive interference. This unusual wave interference in the deep subwavelength regime (modal-volume<0.001lambda^3) significantly enhances the Q-factor, e.g. 50 compared to the quasi-static limit of 5.5.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure

Metastability in a nano-bridge based hysteretic DC-SQUID embedded in superconducting microwave resonator

We study the metastable response of a highly hysteretic DC-SQUID made of a Niobium loop interrupted by two nano-bridges. We excite the SQUID with an alternating current and with direct magnetic flux, and find different stability zones forming diamond-like structures in the measured voltage across the SQUID. When such a SQUID is embedded in a transmission line resonator similar diamond structures are observed in the reflection pattern of the resonator. We have calculated the DC-SQUID stability diagram in the plane of the exciting control parameters, both analytically and numerically. In addition, we have obtained numerical simulations of the SQUID equations of motion, taking into account temperature variations and non-sinusoidal current-phase relation of the nano-bridges. Good agreement is found between experimental and theoretical results

Causal diagrams and the logic of matched case-control studies

It is tempting to assume that confounding bias is eliminated by choosing controls that are identical to the cases on the matched confounder(s). We used causal diagrams to explain why such matching not only fails to remove confounding bias, but also adds colliding bias, and why both types of bias are removed by conditioning on the matched confounder(s). As in some publications, we trace the logic of matching to a possible tradeoff between effort and variance, not between effort and bias. Lastly, we explain why the analysis of a matched case-control study – regardless of the method of matching – is not conceptually different from that of an unmatched study

Cancer metabolism at a glance

A defining hallmark of cancer is uncontrolled cell proliferation. This is initiated once cells have accumulated alterations in signaling pathways that control metabolism and proliferation, wherein the metabolic alterations provide the energetic and anabolic demands of enhanced cell proliferation. How these metabolic requirements are satisfied depends, in part, on the tumor microenvironment, which determines the availability of nutrients and oxygen. In this Cell Science at a Glance paper and the accompanying poster, we summarize our current understanding of cancer metabolism, emphasizing pathways of nutrient utilization and metabolism that either appear or have been proven essential for cancer cells. We also review how this knowledge has contributed to the development of anticancer therapies that target cancer metabolism

Adherence to Nutrition and Physical Activity Cancer Prevention Guidelines and Development of Colorectal Adenoma.

Adherence to the American Cancer Society's (ACS) Nutrition and Physical Activity Cancer Prevention Guidelines is associated with reductions in overall cancer incidence and mortality, including site-specific cancers such as colorectal cancer. We examined the relationship between baseline adherence to the ACS guidelines and (1) baseline adenoma characteristics and (2) odds of recurrent colorectal adenomas over 3 years of follow-up. Cross-sectional and prospective analyses with a pooled sample of participants from the Wheat Bran Fiber (n = 503) and Ursodeoxycholic Acid (n = 854) trials were performed. A cumulative adherence score was constructed using baseline self-reported data regarding body size, diet, physical activity and alcohol consumption. Multivariable logistic regression demonstrated significantly reduced odds of having three or more adenomas at baseline for moderately adherent (odds ratio [OR] = 0.67, 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.46⁻0.99) and highly adherent (OR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.31⁻0.81) participants compared to low adherers (p-trend = 0.005). Conversely, guideline adherence was not associated with development of recurrent colorectal adenoma (moderate adherence OR = 1.16, 95% CI: 0.85⁻1.59, high adherence OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 0.85⁻1.79)

Displacement Detection with a Vibrating RF SQUID: Beating the Standard Linear Limit

We study a novel configuration for displacement detection consisting of a nanomechanical resonator coupled to both, a radio frequency superconducting interference device (RF SQUID) and to a superconducting stripline resonator. We employ an adiabatic approximation and rotating wave approximation and calculate the displacement sensitivity. We study the performance of such a displacement detector when the stripline resonator is driven into a region of nonlinear oscillations. In this region the system exhibits noise squeezing in the output signal when homodyne detection is employed for readout. We show that displacement sensitivity of the device in this region may exceed the upper bound imposed upon the sensitivity when operating in the linear region. On the other hand, we find that the high displacement sensitivity is accompanied by a slowing down of the response of the system, resulting in a limited bandwidth

B-factory Signals for a Warped Extra Dimension

We study predictions for B-physics in a class of models, recently introduced, with a non-supersymmetric warped extra dimension. In these models few ($\sim 3$) TeV Kaluza-Klein masses are consistent with electroweak data due to bulk custodial symmetry. Furthermore, there is an analog of GIM mechanism which is violated by the heavy top quark (just as in SM) leading to striking signals at $B$-factories:(i) New Physics (NP) contributions to $\Delta F= 2$ transitions are comparable to SM. This implies that, within this NP framework, the success of SM unitarity triangle fit is a ``coincidence'' Thus, clean extractions of unitarity angles via e.g. $B \to \pi \pi,\rho \pi, \rho \rho, DK$ are likely to be affected, in addition to O(1) deviation from SM prediction in $B_s$ mixing. (ii) O(1) deviation from SM predictions for $B \to X_s l^+ l^-$ in rate as well as in forward-backward and direct CP asymmetry. (iii) Large mixing-induced CP asymmetry in radiative B decays, wherein the SM unamibgously predicts very small asymmetries. Also with KK masses 3 TeV or less, and with anarchic Yukawa masses, contributions to electric dipole moments of the neutron are roughly 20 times larger than the current experimental bound so that this framework has a "CP problem".Comment: On further consideration, we found that our framework does have a "CP problem" in that though contributions to neutron's electric dipole moment from CKM-like phases vanish at the one-loop level, sizeable contributions are induced by Majorana-like phases. Last sentence of abstract is changed along with para #3 and 4 on page