Lessons and Prospects from the pMSSM after LHC Run I: Neutralino LSP

We study SUSY signatures at the 7, 8 and 14 TeV LHC employing the 19-parameter, R-Parity conserving p(henomenological)MSSM, in the scenario with a neutralino LSP. Our results were obtained via a fast Monte Carlo simulation of the ATLAS SUSY analysis suite. The flexibility of this framework allows us to study a wide variety of SUSY phenomena simultaneously and to probe for weak spots in existing SUSY search analyses. We determine the ranges of the sparticle masses that are either disfavored or allowed after the searches with the 7 and 8 TeV data sets are combined. We find that natural SUSY models with light squarks and gluinos remain viable. We extrapolate to 14 TeV with both 300 fb$^{-1}$ and 3 ab$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity and determine the expected sensitivity of the jets + MET and stop searches to the pMSSM parameter space. We find that the high-luminosity LHC will be powerful in probing SUSY with neutralino LSPs and can provide a more definitive statement on the existence of natural Supersymmetry.Comment: 41 pages, 27 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1307.844

Evaluation of Agricultural Statistics for ADAP

The Agricultural Development in the American Pacific (ADAP) Directors requested that the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) extend its statistical program to the ADAP region: American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas (CNMI).This is the final report on the feasibility of, and our recommendations on establishing agricultural statistics in the region. The current section presents material that is generally applicable over the region, with separate sections containing relevant notes for each jurisdictionFunded through the US Department of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service Grant Number 92-EXCA-1-0187

Facial resemblance between women's partners and brothers

Research on optimal outbreeding describes the greater reproductive success experienced on average by couples who are neither too closely related, nor too genetically dissimilar. How is optimal outbreeding achieved? Faces that subtly resemble family members could present useful cues to a potential reproductive partner with an optimal level of genetic dissimilarity. Here, we present the first empirical data that heterosexual women select partners who resemble their brothers. Raters ranked the facial similarity between a woman's male partner, and that woman's brother compared to foils. In a multilevel ordinal logistic regression that modeled variability in both the stimuli and the raters, there was clear evidence for perceptual similarity in facial photographs of a woman's partner and her brother. That is, although siblings themselves are sexually aversive, sibling resemblance is not. The affective responses of disgust and attraction may be calibrated to distinguish close kin from individuals with some genetic dissimilarity during partner choice

Impaired empathy and increased anger following social exclusion in non-intoxicated opioid users

This is the final version. Available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.Rationale: Social functioning is modulated by the endogenous opioid system. In opioid use disorder, social functioning appears disrupted, but little research has delineated the nature of these deficits and their relationship to acute opioid use. Objectives: The current study aimed to assess both emotional and cognitive empathy, along with subjective and physiological responses to social exclusion in opioid users who were either acutely intoxicated or non-intoxicated from using opioids. Methods: Individuals on an opioid substitution medication (OSM) were divided into ‘intoxicated users’ (had taken their OSM the same day as testing, n = 20) and ‘non-intoxicated users’ (had taken their OSM > 12 h ago, n = 20) and compared with opioid-naïve controls (n = 24). Empathy was assessed using the multifaceted empathy test and self-report questionnaire. Participants also underwent a period of social exclusion (Cyberball Game) and completed measures of mood and physiological responses (salivary cortisol and heart rate). Results: Non-intoxicated users had significantly lower emotional empathy (the ability to experience others’ emotions), as well as greater anger after social exclusion when compared with the intoxicated users and controls. Anger did not change with social exclusion in the intoxicated user group and cortisol levels were lower overall. Conclusions: Reduced ability to spontaneously share the emotions of others was reported in non-intoxicated users, particularly regarding positive emotions. There was some support for the idea of hyperalgesia to social pain, but this was restricted to an enhanced anger response in non-intoxicated users. Equivalent rates of empathy between the intoxicated users and controls could indicate some remediating effects of acute opioids.University of Exete

On the α−\alpha-decay of deformed actinide nuclei

$\alpha-$decay through a deformed potential barrier produces significant mixing of angular momenta when mapped from the nuclear interior to the outside. Using experimental branching ratios and either semi-classical or coupled-channels transmission matrices, we have found that there is a set of internal amplitudes which are essentially constant for all even--even actinide nuclei. These same amplitudes also give good results for the known anisotropic $\alpha-$particle emission of the favored decays of odd nuclei in the same mass region. PACS numbers: 23.60.+e, 24.10.Eq, 27.90.+bComment: 5 pages, latex (revtex style), 2 embedded postscript figures uuencoded gz-compressed .tar file To appear in Physical Review Letter