Tourism in Conflict Areas: Complex Entanglements in Jordan.

In this article the workings of tourism in areas of socio-political turmoil are critically examined. In so doing the aim is to scrutinize interconnections between tourism, safety and conflict as I contend that tourism, tourists and the danger generated by ongoing socio-political conflicts are intimately connected. The empirical focus is on tourism in Jordan, a country in a region troubled by ongoing conflicts. Fieldwork for this project was carried out in 2009 and 2010 and data was collected from local tourism industry representatives and international tourists in Jordan. Findings indicate that a safety/danger binary is destabilized by industry representatives who operate a ‘sanitization’ process in Jordan meant to erase danger and conflicts from tourism spaces. Tourists in the region also disrupt this binary as they travel to the region in spite of the conflict and downplay violent incidents

A linear RFQ ion trap for the Enriched Xenon Observatory

The design, construction, and performance of a linear radio-frequency ion trap (RFQ) intended for use in the Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO) are described. EXO aims to detect the neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe to $^{136}$Ba. To suppress possible backgrounds EXO will complement the measurement of decay energy and, to some extent, topology of candidate events in a Xe filled detector with the identification of the daughter nucleus ($^{136}$Ba). The ion trap described here is capable of accepting, cooling, and confining individual Ba ions extracted from the site of the candidate double-beta decay event. A single trapped ion can then be identified, with a large signal-to-noise ratio, via laser spectroscopy.Comment: 18 pages, pdflatex, submitted to NIM

Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with the Gauge Mediation of Supersymmetry Breaking

We study the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) as the simplest candidate solution to the $\mu$-problem in the context of the gauge mediation of supersymmetry breaking (GMSB). We first review various proposals to solve the $\mu$-problem in models with the GMSB. We find none of them entirely satisfactory and point out that many of the scenarios still lack quantitative studies, and motivate the NMSSM as the simplest possible solution. We then study the situation in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with the GMSB and find that an order 10% cancellation is necessary between the $\mu$-parameter and the soft SUSY-breaking parameters to correctly reproduce $M_Z$. Unfortunately, the NMSSM does not to give a phenomenologically viable solution to the $\mu$-problem. We present quantitative arguments which apply both for the low-energy and high-energy GMSB and prove that the NMSSM does not work for either case. Possible modifications to the NMSSM are then discussed. The NMSSM with additional vector-like quarks works phenomenologically, but requires an order a few percent cancellation among parameters. We point out that this cancellation has the same origin as the cancellation required in the MSSM.Comment: 36 pages, LaTeX, epsf.sty, 5 figures, references added, comments on some other papers based on our misundestanding corrected, none of our results change

Higgs Scalars in the Minimal Non-minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model

We consider the simplest and most economic version among the proposed non-minimal supersymmetric models, in which the $\mu$-parameter is promoted to a singlet superfield, whose all self-couplings are absent from the renormalizable superpotential. Such a particularly simple form of the renormalizable superpotential may be enforced by discrete $R$-symmetries which are extended to the gravity-induced non-renormalizable operators as well. We show explicitly that within the supergravity-mediated supersymmetry-breaking scenario, the potentially dangerous divergent tadpoles associated with the presence of the gauge singlet first appear at loop levels higher than 5 and therefore do not destabilize the gauge hierarchy. The model provides a natural explanation for the origin of the $\mu$-term, without suffering from the visible axion or the cosmological domain-wall problem. Focusing on the Higgs sector of this minimal non-minimal supersymmetric standard model, we calculate its effective Higgs potential by integrating out the dominant quantum effects due to stop squarks. We then discuss the phenomenological implications of the Higgs scalars predicted by the theory for the present and future high-energy colliders. In particular, we find that our new minimal non-minimal supersymmetric model can naturally accommodate a relatively light charged Higgs boson, with a mass close to the present experimental lower bound.Comment: 63 pages (12 figures), extended versio

Spin relaxation in (110) and (001) InAs/GaSb superlattices

We report an enhancement of the electron spin relaxation time (T1) in a (110) InAs/GaSb superlattice by more than an order of magnitude (25 times) relative to the corresponding (001) structure. The spin dynamics were measured using polarization sensitive pump probe techniques and a mid-infrared, subpicosecond PPLN OPO. Longer T1 times in (110) superlattices are attributed to the suppression of the native interface asymmetry and bulk inversion asymmetry contributions to the precessional D'yakonov Perel spin relaxation process. Calculations using a nonperturbative 14-band nanostructure model give good agreement with experiment and indicate that possible structural inversion asymmetry contributions to T1 associated with compositional mixing at the superlattice interfaces may limit the observed spin lifetime in (110) superlattices. Our findings have implications for potential spintronics applications using InAs/GaSb heterostructures.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

b-physics signals of the lightest CP-odd Higgs in the NMSSM at large tan beta

We investigate the low energy phenomenology of the lighter pseudoscalar $A_1^0$ in the NMSSM. The $A_1^0$ mass can naturally be small due to a global $U(1)_R$ symmetry of the Higgs potential, which is only broken by trilinear soft terms. The $A_1^0$ mass is further protected from renormalization group effects in the large $\tan \beta$ limit. We calculate the $b \to s A_1^0$ amplitude at leading order in $\tan \beta$ and work out the contributions to rare $K$, $B$ and radiative $\Upsilon$-decays and $B -\bar B$ mixing. We obtain constraints on the $A_1^0$ mass and couplings and show that masses down to ${\cal{O}}(10)$ MeV are allowed. The $b$-physics phenomenology of the NMSSM differs from the MSSM in the appearance of sizeable renormalization effects from neutral Higgses to the photon and gluon dipole operators and the breakdown of the MSSM correlation between the $B_s \to \mu^+ \mu^-$ branching ratio and $B_s - \bar B_s$ mixing. For $A_1^0$ masses above the tau threshold the $A_1^0$ can be searched for in $b \to s \tau^+ \tau^-$ processes with branching ratios \lsim 10^{-3}.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures; references adde

Geographically touring the eastern bloc: British geography, travel cultures and the Cold War

This paper considers the role of travel in the generation of geographical knowledge of the eastern bloc by British geographers. Based on oral history and surveys of published work, the paper examines the roles of three kinds of travel experience: individual private travels, tours via state tourist agencies, and tours by academic delegations. Examples are drawn from across the eastern bloc, including the USSR, Poland, Romania, East Germany and Albania. The relationship between travel and publication is addressed, notably within textbooks, and in the Geographical Magazine. The study argues for the extension of accounts of cultures of geographical travel, and seeks to supplement the existing historiography of Cold War geography

Adjuvant chemotherapy in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (the POUT trial): a phase 3, open-label, randomised controlled trial

Background: Urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract (UTUCs) are rare, with poorer stage-for-stage prognosis than urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder. No international consensus exists on the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with UTUCs after nephroureterectomy with curative intent. The POUT (Peri-Operative chemotherapy versus sUrveillance in upper Tract urothelial cancer) trial aimed to assess the efficacy of systemic platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with UTUCs. Methods: We did a phase 3, open-label, randomised controlled trial at 71 hospitals in the UK. We recruited patients with UTUC after nephroureterectomy staged as either pT2–T4 pN0–N3 M0 or pTany N1–3 M0. We randomly allocated participants centrally (1:1) to either surveillance or four 21-day cycles of chemotherapy, using a minimisation algorithm with a random element. Chemotherapy was either cisplatin (70 mg/m²) or carboplatin (area under the curve [AUC]4·5/AUC5, for glomerular filtration rate <50 mL/min only) administered intravenously on day 1 and gemcitabine (1000 mg/m²) administered intravenously on days 1 and 8; chemotherapy was initiated within 90 days of surgery. Follow-up included standard cystoscopic, radiological, and clinical assessments. The primary endpoint was disease-free survival analysed by intention to treat with a Peto-Haybittle stopping rule for (in)efficacy. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01993979. A preplanned interim analysis met the efficacy criterion for early closure after recruitment of 261 participants. Findings: Between June 19, 2012, and Nov 8, 2017, we enrolled 261 participants from 57 of 71 open study sites. 132 patients were assigned chemotherapy and 129 surveillance. One participant allocated chemotherapy withdrew consent for data use after randomisation and was excluded from analyses. Adjuvant chemotherapy significantly improved disease-free survival (hazard ratio 0·45, 95% CI 0·30–0·68; p=0·0001) at a median follow-up of 30·3 months (IQR 18·0–47·5). 3-year event-free estimates were 71% (95% CI 61–78) and 46% (36–56) for chemotherapy and surveillance, respectively. 55 (44%) of 126 participants who started chemotherapy had acute grade 3 or worse treatment-emergent adverse events, which accorded with frequently reported events for the chemotherapy regimen. Five (4%) of 129 patients managed by surveillance had acute grade 3 or worse emergent adverse events. No treatment-related deaths were reported. Interpretation: Gemcitabine–platinum combination chemotherapy initiated within 90 days after nephroureterectomy significantly improved disease-free survival in patients with locally advanced UTUC. Adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy should be considered a new standard of care after nephroureterectomy for this patient population. Funding: Cancer Research UK

Dynamical relaxation of the CP phases in next-to-minimal supersymmetry

After promoting the phases of the soft masses to dynamical fields corresponding to Goldstone bosons of spontaneously broken global symmetries in the supersymmetry breaking sector, the next-to-minimal supersymmetric model is found to solve the $\mu$ problem and the strong CP problem simultaneously with an invisible axion. The domain wall problem persists in the form of axionic domain formation. Relaxation dynamics of the physical CP-violating phases is determined only by the short-distance physics and their relaxation values are not necessarily close to the CP-conserving points. Having observable supersymmetric CP violation and avoiding the axionic domain walls both require nonminimal flavor structures.Comment: 13 pp, 3 figs, published versio