Higgs Physics at the Large Hadron Collider

A major goal of the future Large Hadron Collider will be the Higgs boson search. In this paper the discovery In this paper the discovery potential is described as a function of the Higgs mass showing that a Standard Model Higgs boson can be discovered after less than two years of running of the collider. The MSSM Higgs searches and the precision achievable on the measurement of the Higgs boson parameters are also discussed.Comment: Talk presented at the "XXXVI Rencontres de Moriond: Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories", 10-17 March 200

[Review of] Judith Ortiz Cofer. Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood

This is a rather loose collection of cuentos, or stories, by a person of two very different worlds. In the years of her youth, Judith Ortiz was shuttled between Paterson, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico. Her parents were immersed in the Spanish culture of the Caribbean tropics; but like so many other Puerto Ricans, her father left the island in the 1950s to secure a better life for his family. He joined the US Navy and spent six months of every year at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the rest of the time at sea. When he was stationed in Brooklyn, he would send for his wife and children to live with him in an apartment outside Paterson. Thus, young Judith spent her childhood years alternately living in a small town on a tropical island and in a large urban area in North America. Her father adjusted to the new culture, but her mother never did

[Review of] Marion Wilson Starling. The Slave Narrative: Its Place in American History

This is another reprint of Marion Wilson Starling\u27s breakthrough study of the slave narrative, which she undertook for her Ph.D. dissertation at New York University in 1946 under the advisorship of Oscar Cargill. During the 1960s and 1970s when slave autobiography became a serious critical endeavor, many scholars referred to Starling\u27s thorough historical and literary research; however, her dissertation was not published until 1981. Then, Starling\u27s work became more readily available, and now the paperback edition allows this well-deserved book to reach a wider audience

[Review of] David Pilgrim. Race Relations Above the Veil : Speeches, Essays, and Other Writings

This is mostly a collection of speeches delivered to high school and college students by Pilgrim, who teaches sociology at Saint Mary\u27s College/Notre Dame. A few of the talks were given to community and business groups in several Midwestern states, and thus each selection reflects the appropriate style and content level of the audience being addressed. The content of all the pieces, including the few essays and short stories, focuses on racial prejudice, but also deals with general biases pertaining to gender, ethnic group, and class

The Euclidean Mousetrap: Schopenhauer’s Criticism of the Synthetic Method in Geometry

In his doctoral dissertation On the Principle of Sufficient Reason, Arthur Schopenhauer there outlines a critique of Euclidean geometry on the basis of the changing nature of mathematics, and hence of demonstration, as a result of Kantian idealism. According to Schopenhauer, Euclid treats geometry synthetically, proceeding from the simple to the complex, from the known to the unknown, “synthesizing” later proofs on the basis of earlier ones. Such a method, although proving the case logically, nevertheless fails to attain the raison d’être of the entity. In order to obtain this, a separate method is required, which Schopenhauer refers to as “analysis,” thus echoing a method already in practice among the early Greek geometers, with however some significant differences. In this essay, I here discuss Schopenhauer’s criticism of synthesis in Euclid’s Elements, and the nature and relevance of his own method of analysis

Is fat the sixth taste primary? Evidence and implications

Explores our tongue\u27s ability to detect fat as a distinct taste similar to our ability to sense sweet, sour, bitter, acid and savory. Abstract Taste is the chemical sense responsible for the detection of non-volatile chemicals in potential foods. For fat to be considered as one of the taste primaries in humans, certain criteria must be met including class of affective stimuli, receptors specific for the class of stimuli on taste bud cells (TBC), afferent fibres from TBC to taste-processing regions of the brain, perception independent of other taste qualities and downstream physiological effects. The breakdown products of the macronutrients carbohydrates (sugars) and proteins (amino acids) are responsible for the activation of sweet and umami tastes, respectively. Following the same logic, the breakdown products of fat being fatty acids are the likely class of stimuli for fat taste. Indeed, psychophysical studies have confirmed that fatty acids of varying chain length and saturation are orally detectable by humans. The most likely fatty acid receptor candidates located on TBC are CD36 and G protein-coupled receptor 120. Once the receptors are activated by fatty acids, a series of transduction events occurs causing the release of neurotransmitters towards afferent fibres signalling the brain. Whether fatty acids elicit any direct perception independent of other taste qualities is still open to debate with only poorly defined perceptions for fatty acids reported. Others suggest that the fatty acid taste component is at detection threshold only and any perceptions are associated with either aroma or chemesthesis. It has also been established that oral exposure to fat via sham feeding stimulates increases in blood TAG concentrations in humans. Therefore, overall, with the exception of an independent perception, there is consistent emerging evidence that fat is the sixth taste primary. The implications of fatty acid taste go further into health and obesity research, with the gustatory detection of fats and their contributions to energy and fat intake receiving increasing attention. There appears to be a coordinated bodily response to fatty acids throughout the alimentary canal; those who are insensitive orally are also insensitive in the gastrointestinal tract and overconsume fatty food and energy. The likely mechanism linking fatty acid taste insensitivity with overweight and obesity is development of satiety after consumption of fatty foods