Implications of the Quark Mass Hierarchy on Flavor Mixings

We stress that the observed pattern of flavor mixings can be partly interpreted by the quark mass hierarchy without the assumption of specific quark mass matrices. The quantitatively proper relations between the Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements and quark mass ratios, such as $$|V_{cb}| \approx |V_{ts}| \approx \sqrt{2} (\frac{m_s}{m_b} -\frac{m_c}{m_t}) [1 + 3 (\frac{m_s}{m_b} + \frac{m_c}{m_t} ) ],$$ are obtainable from a simple {\it Ansatz} of flavor permutation symmetry breaking at the weak scale. We prescribe the same {\it Ansatz} at the supersymmetric grand unified theory scale, and find that its all low-energy consequences on flavor mixings and $CP$ violation are in good agreement with current experimental data.Comment: Latex 19 pages including 5 PS figure

Looking in the mirror: Reflecting on 25 years of Inclusive Education in Australia

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis (Routledge) via the DOI in this record.Australia was an early signatory to the Salamanca Statement, and it espouses inclusive education (IE) as the overarching philosophy of education for all. A 2015 critique of IE in Australia (Anderson and Boyle 2015) found that while some gains had been made, particularly in the recognition of the needs of some of the nation’s minority groups, the lack of a nationally accepted understanding of IE meant that it was transpiring in fundamentally distinctive ways across the eight education jurisdictions, with different outcomes for different groups of students. This paper reflects upon why Australia has struggled to enact the recommendations outlined in the Salamanca Statement a quarter of a century ago. The impacts of current education reforms, including the current model of educational provision, the understanding of disability and educational need, and the neo-liberal concepts of standardisation, measurement, and choice are explored. It challenges the idea that IE is the work of schools, and instead argues the need for a national approach to IE. Governments must acknowledge the barriers that their current policies and structures erect and shift towards a more inclusive model of educational delivery – for the benefit of all children and young people in Australia

A Natural Supersymmetric Model with MeV Dark Matter

It has previously been proposed that annihilating dark matter particles with MeV-scale masses could be responsible for the flux of 511 keV photons observed from the region of the Galactic Bulge. The conventional wisdom, however, is that it is very challenging to construct a viable particle physics model containing MeV dark matter. In this letter, we challenge this conclusion by describing a simple and natural supersymmetric model in which the lightest supersymmetric particle naturally has a MeV-scale mass and the other phenomenological properties required to generate the 511 keV emission. In particular, the small ($\sim$ $10^{-5}$) effective couplings between dark matter and the Standard Model fermions required in this scenario naturally lead to radiative corrections that generate MeV-scale masses for both the dark matter candidate and the mediator particle.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. v2: Small modification to discussion of spectru