Practices Surrounding Event Photos

Sharing photos through mobile devices has a great potential for creating shared experiences of social events between co-located as well as remote participants. In order to design novel event sharing tools, we need to develop indepth understanding of current practices surrounding these so called ‘event photos’- photos about and taken during different social events such as weddings picnics, and music concert visits among others. We studied people’s practices related to event photos through in-depth interviews, guided home visits and naturalistic observations. Our results show four major themes describing practices surrounding event photos: 1) representing events, 2) significant moments, 3) situated activities through photos, and 4) collectivism and roles of participants

Utility of TERT Promoter Mutations for Cutaneous Primary Melanoma Diagnosis

Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutations are commonly found in malignant melanomas but rare in melanocytic nevi. To assess its potential diagnostic utility for the distinction of melanoma from nevus, we determined the TERT promoter mutation status of 86 primary melanomas, 72 melanocytic nevi, and 40 diagnostically problematic melanocytic proliferations. Of the 86 melanomas, 67 (77.9%) were TERT-positive, defined as harboring a hotspot TERT promoter mutation at positions -124C>T, -124_125CC>TT, -138_139CC>TT, or -146C>T. Of the 72 nevi, only 1 (1.4%) was TERT-positive. Of the 40 diagnostically uncertain melanocytic proliferations, 2 (5.0%) were TERT-positive. TERT positivity as a test for melanoma versus nevus had an accuracy of 87.3% [95% confidence interval (CI), 81.1-92.1], a sensitivity of 77.9% (95% CI, 68.9-85.4), a specificity of 98.6% (95% CI, 95.8-100), a positive predictive value of 98.5% (95% CI, 95.6-100), and a negative predictive value of 78.9% (95% CI, 72.6-85.4). Our results indicate that hotspot TERT promoter mutation status may be a useful ancillary parameter for the diagnosis of melanoma. In particular, the high specificity of these mutations for melanoma indicates the presence of a TERT promoter mutation in a melanocytic neoplasm associated with diagnostic controversy, or uncertainty should increase concern for a melanoma

Anomalous Dynamics of Forced Translocation

We consider the passage of long polymers of length N through a hole in a membrane. If the process is slow, it is in principle possible to focus on the dynamics of the number of monomers s on one side of the membrane, assuming that the two segments are in equilibrium. The dynamics of s(t) in such a limit would be diffusive, with a mean translocation time scaling as N^2 in the absence of a force, and proportional to N when a force is applied. We demonstrate that the assumption of equilibrium must break down for sufficiently long polymers (more easily when forced), and provide lower bounds for the translocation time by comparison to unimpeded motion of the polymer. These lower bounds exceed the time scales calculated on the basis of equilibrium, and point to anomalous (sub-diffusive) character of translocation dynamics. This is explicitly verified by numerical simulations of the unforced translocation of a self-avoiding polymer. Forced translocation times are shown to strongly depend on the method by which the force is applied. In particular, pulling the polymer by the end leads to much longer times than when a chemical potential difference is applied across the membrane. The bounds in these cases grow as N^2 and N^{1+\nu}, respectively, where \nu is the exponent that relates the scaling of the radius of gyration to N. Our simulations demonstrate that the actual translocation times scale in the same manner as the bounds, although influenced by strong finite size effects which persist even for the longest polymers that we considered (N=512).Comment: 13 pages, RevTeX4, 16 eps figure

Identification of a Robust Methylation Classifier for Cutaneous Melanoma Diagnosis

Early diagnosis improves melanoma survival, yet the histopathological diagnosis of cutaneous primary melanoma can be challenging, even for expert dermatopathologists. Analysis of epigenetic alterations, such as DNA methylation, that occur in melanoma can aid in its early diagnosis. Using a genome-wide methylation screening, we assessed CpG methylation in a diverse set of 89 primary invasive melanomas, 73 nevi, and 41 melanocytic proliferations of uncertain malignant potential, classified based on interobserver review by dermatopathologists. Melanomas and nevi were split into training and validation sets. Predictive modeling in the training set using ElasticNet identified a 40-CpG classifier distinguishing 60 melanomas from 48 nevi. High diagnostic accuracy (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve = 0.996, sensitivity = 96.6%, and specificity = 100.0%)was independently confirmed in the validation set (29 melanomas, 25 nevi)and other published sample sets. The 40-CpG melanoma classifier included homeobox transcription factors and genes with roles in stem cell pluripotency or the nervous system. Application of the 40-CpG melanoma classifier to the diagnostically uncertain samples assigned melanoma or nevus status, potentially offering a diagnostic tool to assist dermatopathologists. In summary, the robust, accurate 40-CpG melanoma classifier offers a promising assay for improving primary melanoma diagnosis

Conformal Invariance, Dark Energy, and CMB Non-Gaussianity

In addition to simple scale invariance, a universe dominated by dark energy naturally gives rise to correlation functions possessing full conformal invariance. This is due to the mathematical isomorphism between the conformal group of certain 3 dimensional slices of de Sitter space and the de Sitter isometry group SO(4,1). In the standard homogeneous isotropic cosmological model in which primordial density perturbations are generated during a long vacuum energy dominated de Sitter phase, the embedding of flat spatial sections in de Sitter space induces a conformal invariant perturbation spectrum and definite prediction for the shape of the non-Gaussian CMB bispectrum. In the case in which the density fluctuations are generated instead on the de Sitter horizon, conformal invariance of the horizon embedding implies a different but also quite definite prediction for the angular correlations of CMB non-Gaussianity on the sky. Each of these forms for the bispectrum is intrinsic to the symmetries of de Sitter space and in that sense, independent of specific model assumptions. Each is different from the predictions of single field slow roll inflation models which rely on the breaking of de Sitter invariance. We propose a quantum origin for the CMB fluctuations in the scalar gravitational sector from the conformal anomaly that could give rise to these non-Gaussianities without a slow roll inflaton field, and argue that conformal invariance also leads to the expectation for the relation n_S-1=n_T between the spectral indices of the scalar and tensor power spectrum. Confirmation of this prediction or detection of non-Gaussian correlations in the CMB of one of the bispectral shape functions predicted by conformal invariance can be used both to establish the physical origins of primordial density fluctuations and distinguish between different dynamical models of cosmological vacuum dark energy.Comment: 73 pages, 9 figures. Final Version published in JCAP. New Section 4 added on linearized scalar gravitational potentials; New Section 8 added on gravitational wave tensor perturbations and relation of spectral indices n_T = n_S -1; Table of Contents added; Eqs. (3.14) and (3.15) added to clarify relationship of bispectrum plotted to CMB measurements; Some other minor modification

A self-interaction corrected pseudopotential scheme for magnetic and strongly-correlated systems

Local-spin-density functional calculations may be affected by severe errors when applied to the study of magnetic and strongly-correlated materials. Some of these faults can be traced back to the presence of the spurious self-interaction in the density functional. Since the application of a fully self-consistent self-interaction correction is highly demanding even for moderately large systems, we pursue a strategy of approximating the self-interaction corrected potential with a non-local, pseudopotential-like projector, first generated within the isolated atom and then updated during the self-consistent cycle in the crystal. This scheme, whose implementation is totally uncomplicated and particularly suited for the pseudopotental formalism, dramatically improves the LSDA results for a variety of compounds with a minimal increase of computing cost.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figure

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter