Charm semileptonic decays at LHCb

In these proceedings, we explore the possible reach of the LHCb dataset in the area of charm semileptonic decays. Specifically, we give prospects for the measurement of $|V_{cs}|/|V_{cd}|$ using $\mathcal{B}(D^0\to K^-\mu^+\nu_\mu)/\mathcal{B}(D^0\to\pi^-\mu^+\nu_\mu)$ with Run I data. Preliminary projections show that the LHCb Run I dataset would give a relative statistical uncertainty of $\sim 0.2\%$ on this ratio. We also motivate the search for lepton non-universality in the charm sector.Comment: Proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on the CKM Unitarity Triangle, 28 November - 3 December 2016, Tata Institute for Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India. 6 pages, 3 figure

Experimental prospects for VudV_{ud}, VusV_{us}, VcdV_{cd}, VcsV_{cs} and (semi-)leptonic decays at LHCb

We review the prospects of measurements of the CKM matrix elements corresponding to the first two generations of quarks, as well as measurements of leptonic and semileptonic charm meson decays at LHCb. We review the status of searches for Lepton Non-Universality in the charm sector, and provide motivation to continue such searches.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Presented at the 10th workshop on the CKM unitary triangle, Heidelberg, German

On Why Library Workers Are Well-Suited to Serve During Disasters

Since 2015, staff at the Palm Beach County Library System have actively applied their skills and knowledge to participate in emergency management in preparation for and during disasters such as hurricanes. Library staff, along with their knowledge, skills, and experiences are invaluable in helping communities face and recover from devastation

On DBI Textures with Generalized Hopf Fibration

In this letter we show numerical existence of O(4) Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) Textures living in (N +1) dimensional spacetime. These defects are characterized by $S^N\rightarrow S^3$ mapping, generalizing the well-known Hopf fibration into ?$\pi_N (S^3)$, for all N > 3. The nonlinear nature of DBI kinetic term provides stability against size perturbation and thus renders the defects having natural scale.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys.Lett.

Weed Diversity Affects Soybean and Maize Yield in a Long Term Experiment in Michigan, USA

Managing production environments in ways that promote weed community diversity may enhance both crop production and the development of a more sustainable agriculture. This study analyzed data of productivity of maize (corn) and soybean in plots in the Main Cropping System Experiment (MCSE) at the W. K. Kellogg Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research (KBS-LTER) in Michigan, USA, from 1996 to 2011. We used models derived from population ecology to explore how weed diversity, temperature, and precipitation interact with crop yields. Using three types of models that considered internal and external (climate and weeds) factors, with additive or non-linear variants, we found that changes in weed diversity were associated with changes in rates of crop yield increase over time for both maize and soybeans. The intrinsic capacity for soybean yield increase in response to the environment was greater under more diverse weed communities. Soybean production risks were greatest in the least weed diverse systems, in which each weed species lost was associated with progressively greater crop yield losses. Managing for weed community diversity, while suppressing dominant, highly competitive weeds, may be a helpful strategy for supporting long term increases in soybean productivity. In maize, there was a negative and non-additive response of yields to the interaction between weed diversity and minimum air temperatures. When cold temperatures constrained potential maize productivity through limited resources, negative interactions with weed diversity became more pronounced. We suggest that: (1) maize was less competitive in cold years allowing higher weed diversity and the dominance of some weed species; or (2) that cold years resulted in increased weed richness and prevalence of competitive weeds, thus reducing crop yields. Therefore, we propose to control dominant weed species especially in the years of low yield and extreme minimum temperatures to improve maize yields. Results of our study indicate that through the proactive management of weed diversity, it may be possible to promote both high productivity of crops and environmental sustainability.RF gratefully acknowledges receipt of a grant from the Fundación Carolina. JG and RF were supported by FEDER (European Regional Development Funds) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness funds (AGL2012-33736 and AGL2015-64130-R). RF and ML acknowledge financial support from Center of Applied Ecology & Sustainability (CAPES; CONICYT FB 0002-2014).Peer Reviewe

Attitudes of Religious Leaders Toward Integrating Psychology and Church Ministry

Although psychology and religion deal with overlapping subject matter, the relationship between psychology and the church has a tumultuous history. The current study examined religious leaders’ attitudes toward integrating psychological science into church ministry. Religious leaders (N = 394) completed measures of (a) congregants’ mental health and social concerns, (b) attitudes toward psychological science (i.e., perceived barriers of integration, compatibility with church ministry), and (c) hypothesized predictors of attitudes toward the integration of psychology and church ministry (i.e., political conservatism, intratextual fundamentalism, religious intellectual humility, emotional intelligence). Overall, religious leaders expressed both positive and negative attitudes toward psychology. Conservative political orientation and intratextual fundamentalism were associated with negative attitudes toward integration, whereas religious intellectual humility and emotional intelligence were associated with positive attitudes. We conclude by discussing limitations, suggestions for future research, and practical applications for psychologists and church leaders

Seed Burial Physical Environment Explains Departures from Regional Hydrothermal Model of Giant Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) Seedling Emergence in U.S. Midwest

Robust predictions of weed seedling emergence from the soil seedbank are needed to aid weed management. A common seed accession (Illinois) of giant ragweed was buried in replicate experimental gardens over 18 site years in Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, and South Dakota to examine the importance of site and climate variability by year on seedling emergence. In a nonlinear mixed-effects modeling approach, we used a flexible sigmoidal function (Weibull) to model giant ragweed cumulative seedling emergence in relation to hydrothermal time accumulated in each site-year. An iterative search method across a range of base temperature (Tb ) and base and ceiling soil matric potentials (ψb and ψc) for accumulation of hydrothermal time identified optima (Tb = 4.4 C, ψ b = −2,500 kPa, ψ c = 0 kPa) that resulted in a parsimonious regional model. Deviations between the fits for individual site-years and the fixed effects regional model were characterized by a negative relationship between random effects for the shape parameter lrc (natural log of the rate constant, indicating the speed at which emergence progressed) and thermal time (base 10 C) during the seed burial period October through March (r = −0.51, P = 0.03). One possible implication of this result is that cold winter temperatures are required to break dormancy in giant ragweed seeds. By taking advantage of advances in statistical computing approaches, development of robust regional models now is possible for explaining arable weed seedling emergence progress across wide regions

Strong lensing constraints on the velocity dispersion and density profile of elliptical galaxies

We use the statistics of strong gravitational lensing from the CLASS survey to impose constraints on the velocity dispersion and density profile of elliptical galaxies. This approach differs from much recent work, where the luminosity function, velocity dispersion and density profile were typically {\it assumed} in order to constrain cosmological parameters. It is indeed remarkable that observational cosmology has reached the point where we can consider using cosmology to constrain astrophysics, rather than vice versa. We use two different observables to obtain our constraints (total optical depth and angular distributions of lensing events). In spite of the relatively poor statistics and the uncertain identification of lenses in the survey, we obtain interesting constraints on the velocity dispersion and density profiles of elliptical galaxies. For example, assuming the SIS density profile and marginalizing over other relevant parameters, we find 168 km/s < sigma_* < 200 km/s (68% CL), and 158 km/s < sigma_* < 220 km/s (95% CL). Furthermore, if we instead assume a generalized NFW density profile and marginalize over other parameters, the slope of the profile is constrained to be 1.50 < beta < 2.00 (95% CL). We also constrain the concentration parameter as a function of the density profile slope in these models. These results are essentially independent of the exact knowledge of cosmology. We briefly discuss the possible impact on these constraints of allowing the galaxy luminosity function to evolve with redshift, and also possible useful future directions for exploration.Comment: Uses the final JVAS/CLASS sample, more careful choice of ellipticals, added discussion of possible biases. Final results essentially unchanged. Matches the MNRAS versio

Method and apparatus for electromagnetically braking a motor

An electromagnetic braking system and method is provided for selectively braking a motor using an electromagnetic brake having an electromagnet, a permanent magnet, a rotor assembly, and a brake pad. The brake assembly applies when the electromagnet is de-energized and releases when the electromagnet is energized. When applied the permanent magnet moves the brake pad into frictional engagement with a housing, and when released the electromagnet cancels the flux of the permanent magnet to allow a leaf spring to move the brake pad away from the housing. A controller has a DC/DC converter for converting a main bus voltage to a lower braking voltage based on certain parameters. The converter utilizes pulse-width modulation (PWM) to regulate the braking voltage. A calibrated gap is defined between the brake pad and permanent magnet when the brake assembly is released, and may be dynamically modified via the controller