Evaluating the application of research-based guidance to the design of an emergency preparedness leaflet

UNLABELLED: Guidelines for the design of emergency communications were derived from primary research and interrogation of the literature. The guidelines were used to re-design a nuclear emergency preparedness leaflet routinely distributed to households in the local area. Pre-test measures of memory for, and self-reported understanding of, nuclear safety information were collected. The findings revealed high levels of non-receipt of the leaflet, and among those who did receive it, memory for safety advice was poor. Subjective evaluations of the trial leaflet suggested that it was preferred and judged easier to understand than the original. Objective measures of memory for the two leaflets were also recorded, once after the study period, and again one week or four weeks later. Memory for the advice was better, at all time periods, when participants studied the trial leaflet. The findings showcase evaluation of emergency preparedness literature and suggest that extant research findings can be applied to the design of communications to improve memory and understandability. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: Studies are described that showcase the use of research-based guidelines to design emergency communications and provide both subjective and objective data to support designing emergency communications in this way. In addition, the research evaluates the effectiveness of emergency preparedness leaflets that are routinely distributed to households. This work is of relevance to academics interested in risk communication and to practitioners involved in civil protection and emergency preparedness

What is wrong with 'being a pill-taker'? The special case of statins.

In an interview study of decision-making about statins, many participants said they took pills regularly, yet described themselves as 'not really pill-takers'. This paper explores this paradox and its implications. The practice of pill-taking itself can constitute a challenge to the presentation of moral adequacy, beyond the potential for rendering stigmatised illnesses visible. Meeting this challenge involves a complex process of calibrating often-conflicting moral imperatives: to be concerned, but not too concerned, over one's health; to be informed, but not over-informed; and deferential but not over-deferential to medical expertise. This calibration reflects a broader tension between rival tropes: embracing medical progress and resisting medicalisation. Participants who take statins present them as unquestionably necessary; 'needing' pills, as opposed to choosing to take them, serves as a defence against the devalued identity of being a pill-taker. However, needing to take statins offers an additional threat to identity, because taking statins is widely perceived to be an alternative strategy to 'choosing a healthy lifestyle'. This perception underpins a responsibilising health promotion discourse that shapes and complicates the work participants do to avoid presenting themselves as 'pill-takers'. The salience of this discourse should be acknowledged where discussions of medicalisation use statins as an example

LHC Phenomenology of an Extended Standard Model with a Real Scalar Singlet

Gauge singlet extensions of the Standard Model (SM) scalar sector may help remedy its theoretical and phenomenological shortcomings while solving outstanding problems in cosmology. Depending on the symmetries of the scalar potential, such extensions may provide a viable candidate for the observed relic density of cold dark matter or a strong first order electroweak phase transition needed for electroweak baryogenesis. Using the simplest extension of the SM scalar sector with one real singlet field, we analyze the generic implications of a singlet-extended scalar sector for Higgs boson phenomenology at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We consider two broad scenarios: one in which the neutral SM Higgs and singlet mix and the other in which no mixing occurs and the singlet can be a dark matter particle. For the first scenario, we analyze constraints from electroweak precision observables and their implications for LHC Higgs phenomenology. For models in which the singlet is stable, we determine the conditions under which it can yield the observed relic density, compute the cross sections for direct detection in recoil experiments, and discuss the corresponding signatures at the LHC.Comment: 39 pages, 11 figures, 2 table

Higgs ID at the LHC

We make a complete catalog of extended Higgs sectors involving SU(2)_L doublets and singlets, subject to natural flavor conservation. In each case we present the couplings of a light neutral CP-even Higgs state h in terms of the model parameters, and identify which models are distinguishable in principle based on this information. We also give explicit expressions for the model parameters in terms of h couplings and exhibit the behaviors of the couplings in the limit where the deviations from the Standard Model Higgs couplings are small. Finally we discuss prospects for differentiation of extended Higgs models based on measurements at the LHC and ILC and identify the regions in which these experiments could detect deviations from the SM Higgs predictions.Comment: 46 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, PRD versio

Higgs Sector in Extensions of the MSSM

Extensions of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with additional singlet scalar fields solve the important mu-parameter fine tuning problem of the MSSM. We compute and compare the neutral Higgs boson mass spectra, including one-loop corrections, of the following MSSM extensions: Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), the nearly-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (nMSSM), and the U(1)'-extended Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (UMSSM) by performing scans over model parameters. We find that the Secluded U(1)'-extended Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (sMSSM) is identical to the nMSSM if three of the additional scalars decouple. The dominant part of the one-loop corrections are model-independent since the singlet field does not couple to MSSM particles other than the Higgs doublets. Thus, model-dependent parameters enter the masses only at tree-level. We apply constraints from LEP bounds on the Standard Model and MSSM Higgs boson masses and the MSSM chargino mass, the invisible Z decay width, and the Z-Z' mixing angle. Some extended models permit a Higgs boson with mass substantially below the SM LEP limit or above theoretical limits in the MSSM. Ways to differentiate the models via masses, couplings, decays and production of the Higgs bosons are discussed.Comment: 65 pages, 15 figures. Figure replaced and typos corrected. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Angoff anchor statements: setting a flawed gold standard?

http://www.mededpublish.org/manuscripts/120

High energy neutrinos from neutralino annihilations in the Sun

Neutralino annihilations in the Sun to weak boson and top quark pairs lead to high-energy neutrinos that can be detected by the IceCube and KM3 experiments in the search for neutralino dark matter. We calculate the neutrino signals from real and virtual WW, ZZ, Zh, and $t \bar t$ production and decays, accounting for the spin-dependences of the matrix elements, which can have important influences on the neutrino energy spectra. We take into account neutrino propagation including neutrino oscillations, matter-resonance, absorption, and nu_tau regeneration effects in the Sun and evaluate the neutrino flux at the Earth. We concentrate on the compelling Focus Point (FP) region of the supergravity model that reproduces the observed dark matter relic density. For the FP region, the lightest neutralino has a large bino-higgsino mixture that leads to a high neutrino flux and the spin-dependent neutralino capture rate in the Sun is enhanced by 10^3 over the spin-independent rate. For the standard estimate of neutralino captures, the muon signal rates in IceCube are identifiable over the atmospheric neutrino background for neutralino masses above M_Z up to 400 GeV.Comment: 45 pages, 18 figures and 5 tables, PRD versio

A CANDELS - 3D-HST Synergy: Resolved Star Formation Patterns at 0.7 < z < 1.5

We analyze the resolved stellar populations of 473 massive star-forming galaxies at 0.7 < z < 1.5, with multi-wavelength broad-band imaging from CANDELS and Halpha surface brightness profiles at the same kiloparsec resolution from 3D-HST. Together, this unique data set sheds light on how the assembled stellar mass is distributed within galaxies, and where new stars are being formed. We find the Halpha morphologies to resemble more closely those observed in the ACS I band than in the WFC3 H band, especially for the larger systems. We next derive a novel prescription for Halpha dust corrections, which accounts for extra extinction towards HII regions. The prescription leads to consistent SFR estimates and reproduces the observed relation between the Halpha/UV luminosity ratio and visual extinction, both on a pixel-by-pixel and on a galaxy-integrated level. We find the surface density of star formation to correlate with the surface density of assembled stellar mass for spatially resolved regions within galaxies, akin to the so-called 'main sequence of star formation' established on a galaxy-integrated level. Deviations from this relation towards lower equivalent widths are found in the inner regions of galaxies. Clumps and spiral features, on the other hand, are associated with enhanced Halpha equivalent widths, bluer colors, and higher specific star formation rates compared to the underlying disk. Their Halpha/UV luminosity ratio is lower than that of the underlying disk, suggesting the ACS clump selection preferentially picks up those regions of elevated star formation activity that are the least obscured by dust. Our analysis emphasizes that monochromatic studies of galaxy structure can be severely limited by mass-to-light ratio variations due to dust and spatially inhomogeneous star formation histories.Comment: Accepted by The Astrophysical Journal, 18 pages, 1 table, 10 figure