Dark Matter from the Supersymmetric Custodial Triplet Model

The Supersymmetric Custodial Triplet Model (SCTM) adds to the particle content of the MSSM three $SU(2)_L$ triplet chiral superfields with hypercharge $Y=(0,\pm1)$. At the superpotential level the model respects a global $SU(2)_L \otimes SU(2)_R$ symmetry only broken by the Yukawa interactions. The pattern of vacuum expectation values of the neutral doublet and triplet scalar fields depends on the symmetry pattern of the Higgs soft breaking masses. We study the cases where this symmetry is maintained in the Higgs sector, and when it is broken only by the two doublets attaining different vacuum expectation values. In the former case, the symmetry is spontaneously broken down to the vectorial subgroup $SU(2)_V$ and the $\rho$ parameter is protected by the custodial symmetry. However in both situations the $\rho$ parameter is protected at tree level, allowing for light triplet scalars with large vacuum expectation values. We find that over a large range of parameter space, a light neutralino can supply the correct relic abundance of dark matter either through resonant s-channel triplet scalar funnels or well tempering of the Bino with the triplet fermions. Direct detection experiments have trouble probing these model points because the custodial symmetry suppresses the coupling of the neutralino and the $Z$ and a small Higgsino component of the neutralino suppresses the coupling with the Higgs. Likewise the annihilation cross sections for indirect detection lie below the Fermi-LAT upper bounds for the different channels.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures; v2 revised comments on classification method and indirect detection section. Results unchanged, matches PRD published versio

Gender Differences in Health Related Fitness Outcomes Among College Age Kinesiology Students

Download PD

Gopher Tortoise Seed Dispersal Monitoring

Gopher tortoises are native to Florida and vital to the ecosystem due to the underground boroughs they build, which provide shelter to other animals, and for their key role in seed dispersion. In order to improve our understanding of the role of gopher tortoises on biodiversity, we aim to investigate the digestive track of gopher tortoises. Data on seed dispersion distance and gut retention time are critical to effective and efficient endangered plant species conservation efforts. In a multidisciplinary project between Department of Earth and Environment, College and Engineering, and the Miami Zoo, we are fabricating an ingestible device to monitor and map the digestive tract of gopher tortoises. The device needs to be properly encapsulated to prevent any harm to the animal. Device encapsulation has been developed, but requires extensive validation before deployment. To mimic the passage of the device and the effect of the gut, device encapsulation is tested on small plastic beads. The integrity of the coating is analyzed by measuring the cross-section thickness. In addition, UV-Vis was used to quantify scratches in the coating. Enclosure for the external trackers were designed and 3D printed to hold in place an external device that serves as a logger and aids in data transmission, placed on the tortoise\u27s shell

Production Regimes for Self-Interacting Dark Matter

In the context of Self-Interacting Dark Matter as a solution for the small-scale structure problems, we consider the possibility that Dark Matter could have been produced without being in thermal equilibrium with the Standard Model bath. We discuss one by one the following various dark matter production regimes of this kind: freeze-in, reannihilation and dark freeze-out. We exemplify how these mechanisms work in the context of the particularly simple Hidden Vector Dark Matter model. In contrast to scenarios where there is thermal equilibrium with the Standard Model bath, we find two regimes which can easily satisfy all the laboratory and cosmological constraints. These are dark freeze-out with 3-to-2 annihilations and freeze-in via a light mediator. In the first regime, different temperatures in the visible and the Dark Matter sectors allow us to avoid the constraints coming from cosmic structure formation as well as the use of non-perturbative couplings to reproduce the observed relic density. For the second regime, different couplings are responsible for Dark Matter relic density and self-interactions, permitting to surpass BBN, X-ray, CMB and direct detection constraints.Comment: 40 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publication in JCA

Four quotient set gems

Our aim in this note is to present four remarkable facts about quotient sets. These observations seem to have been overlooked by the Monthly, despite its intense coverage of quotient sets over the years.Comment: 9 pages, to appear in the American Mathematical Monthl

Carbon Finance: Environmental Market Solutions to Climate Change

Edited by Bryan Garcia and Eric Roberts of the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale, this book presents the opinions and trend-setting experiences of leading practitioners in global carbon markets and finance on the business of climate change.This publication contains both practical information and thoughtful analyses relevant to the asset management, hedge funds, insurance, investment banking, philanthropy, private equity, and venture capital arenas, among others.It is a resource for academic institutions, business professionals, entrepreneurs, institutional investors such as endowment and pension fund managers, market makers, non-profit organizations, foundations, policy-makers, and anyone else seeking to understand how finance can accelerate solutions to climate change

Academic Achievement and Health Related Fitness Outcomes Among Kinesiology Majors

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Academic achievement has been shown to be related to health related fitness (HRF) performance among grade school and middle school children. However, very little is known about this relationship in college age students. The authors are not aware of any data available concerning HRF performance and those students seeking degrees in kinesiology. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between academic achievement and HRF outcomes among kinesiology majors. METHODS: Health related fitness measurements were taken on 104 undergraduate Tarleton kinesiology majors. Students overall GPA was obtained by the supervising faculty member through approved methods and with any identifying information removed. Fitness measures included body composition, blood pressure, cardiorespiratory endurance (1.5 mile time), flexibility (sit-n-reach), and muscular strength and endurance. One and half mile run, sit ups, bench press, leg press, and the sit and reach were administered and ranked according to ACSM Guidelines (9th ed). Differences in HRF outcomes were analyzed using independent t-tests with significance set at p\u3c0.05. Pearson product correlation was used to evaluation relationships between GPA and HRF rankings. RESULTS: Relationships between HRF and GPA are presented in the table below. GPA and Health-Related Fitness Percentile Rankings (p\u3c0.05)* Student Characteristics Males (N=44) Females (N=50) GPA* 2.74 ± 0.49 2.95 ± 0.53 1.5 Mile Run (% Rank)* 59.1 ± 29.9 41.9 ± 28.9 Body Fat (% Rank)* 53.6 ± 30.4 34.5 ± 24.1 Leg Press Ratio (% Rank)* Flexibility (% Rank) Bench Press Ratio (% Rank) Sit-ups (% Rank) Systolic Blood Pressure* Diastolic Blood Pressure 83.8 ± 8.9 69.3 ± 17.3 49.5 ± 19.9 57.8 ± 24.1 126.3 ± 11.1 78.5 ± 7.6 87.6 ± 5.9 69.4 ± 16.1 46.5 ± 24.8 54.9 ± 24.5 117.6 ± 10.9 73.3 ± 10.0 CONCLUSION: In this subset, although females ranked higher relative to GPA, males performed better on several HRF measures. Further analysis to investigate HRF and GPA relationships

The expression profile of secondary metabolites in biofilms of B. amyloliquefaciens CECT 8237 biocontrol strain

The contribution of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens CECT 8237 (UMAF6639) strain to the plant protection against bacterial and fungal pathogens is mainly based on: i) the production of antimicrobial compounds, ii) the plant-growth promotion capability and iii) the induction of systemic resistance in plant host. In previous works, we demonstrated the relevant implication of the three families of lipopeptides in the biocontrol activity and biofilm formation on melon leaves. The analysis of the genome sequence revealed features previously identified in other Bacillus strains, such as genes related to biofilm formation, phytostimulation and induction of systemic resistance in the host plant, and novel genomic regions non-conserved within the Bacillus genus, and therefore with potential genes implicated in the biocontrol activity. Considering the relevance of biofilm formation and production of secondary metabolites in biocontrol, we analyzed the expression profile of several secondary metabolites produced by CECT 8237 in biofilm inducing conditions. To do so, we optimized an in situ detection method based on MALDI-TOF analysis of secondary metabolites within the bacterial colony and in supernatants and pellicles of B. amyloliquefaciens biofilms. We found a major accumulation of these secondary metabolites in the core and middle area of the colony and in the spent medium compared to pellicle. Further studies will help elucidating the real implication of these molecules in the bacterial ecology or in its mechanisms of defence, against competitors, and/or offense, against pathogens and its possible relation with the niche they occupy. This work was supported by grants from the Plan Nacional I+D+I (AGL-2012-31968) and Incentivos a Proyectos de Excelencia de la Junta de Andalucía (P10-AGR-57-97), both cofinanced by FEDER funds (EU). This work was also supported by grant from Koppert B.V. (8.06/60.4086) and European Research Council-Starting Grant BacBio ERC637971.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Exploring Musical Roots: Applying Audio Embeddings to Empower Influence Attribution for a Generative Music Model

Every artist has a creative process that draws inspiration from previous artists and their works. Today, "inspiration" has been automated by generative music models. The black box nature of these models obscures the identity of the works that influence their creative output. As a result, users may inadvertently appropriate, misuse, or copy existing artists' works. We establish a replicable methodology to systematically identify similar pieces of music audio in a manner that is useful for understanding training data attribution. A key aspect of our approach is to harness an effective music audio similarity measure. We compare the effect of applying CLMR and CLAP embeddings to similarity measurement in a set of 5 million audio clips used to train VampNet, a recent open source generative music model. We validate this approach with a human listening study. We also explore the effect that modifications of an audio example (e.g., pitch shifting, time stretching, background noise) have on similarity measurements. This work is foundational to incorporating automated influence attribution into generative modeling, which promises to let model creators and users move from ignorant appropriation to informed creation. Audio samples that accompany this paper are available at https://tinyurl.com/exploring-musical-roots.Comment: 14 pages + references. Under conference revie

A Morphological Diagnostic for Dynamical Evolution of Wolf-Rayet Bubbles

We have observed H-alpha and [OIII] emission from eight of the most well defined Wolf-Rayet ring nebulae in the Galaxy. We find that in many cases the outermost edge of the [OIII] emission leads the H-alpha emission. We suggest that these offsets, when present, are due to the shock from the Wolf-Rayet bubble expanding into the circumstellar envelope. Thus, the details of the WR bubble morphology at H-alpha and [OIII] can then be used to better understand the physical condition and evolutionary stage of the nebulae around Wolf-Rayet stars, as well as place constraints on the nature of the stellar progenitor and its mass loss history.Comment: 11 pages, LaTex, 8 figures, accepted for publication in AJ, November 200