Bs Mixing and Electric Dipole Moments in MFV

We analyze the general structure of four-fermion operators capable of introducing CP-violation preferentially in Bs mixing within the framework of Minimal Flavor Violation. The effect requires a minimum of O(Yu^4 Yd^4) Yukawa insertions, and at this order we find a total of six operators with different Lorentz, color, and flavor contractions that lead to enhanced Bs mixing. We then estimate the impact of these operators and of their close relatives on the possible sizes of electric dipole moments (EDMs) of neutrons and heavy atoms. We identify two broad classes of such operators: those that give EDMs in the limit of vanishing CKM angles, and those that require quark mixing for the existence of non-zero EDMs. The natural value for EDMs from the operators in the first category is up to an order of magnitude above the experimental upper bounds, while the second group predicts EDMs well below the current sensitivity level. Finally, we discuss plausible UV-completions for each type of operator.Comment: 11 pages; v2: references adde

Transformation and fate of microphytobenthos carbon in subtropical, intertidal sediments: potential for long-term carbon retention revealed by ¹³C-labeling

Microphytobenthos (MPB) are ubiquitous in coastal sediments, but the fate of their production (carbon biomass) is poorly defined. The processing and fate of MPB-derived carbon in subtropical intertidal sediments was investigated through in situ labeling with ¹³C-bicarbonate. Of the added ¹³C, 100% was fixed within ~ 4 h, suggesting that MPB productivity was limited by inorganic carbon availability. Although there was rapid transfer of ¹³C to bacteria (within 12 h), a relatively small fraction of ¹³C was transferred to heterotrophs (up to 12.5% of total fixed ¹³C into bacteria and 0.01% into foraminifera). MPB was the major reservoir for ¹³C throughout the study, suggesting that production of extracellular polymeric substances was limited and/or MPB recycled ¹³C. This retention of ¹³C was reflected in remarkably slow estimated turnover times for the MPB community (66–100 d). Over 31 d, ~ 70% of the ¹³C was lost from sediments. This was primarily via resuspension (~ 55%), enhanced by elevated freshwater flow following rainfall. A further ~ 13% was lost via fluxes of dissolved inorganic carbon during inundation. However, ¹³C losses via dissolved organic carbon fluxes from inundated sediments (0.5%) and carbon dioxide fluxes from exposed sediments (<0.1%) were minimal. The retention of ~ 30% of the carbon fixed by MPB within one tidal exposure after > 30 d, despite high resuspension, demonstrates the potentially substantial longer term retention of MPB-derived carbon in unvegetated sediments and suggests that MPB may contribute to carbon burial ("blue carbon")

Music in advertising and consumer identity: The search for Heideggerian authenticity

This study discusses netnographic findings involving 472 YouTube postings categorized to identify themes regarding consumers’ experience of music in advertisements. Key themes relate to musical taste, musical indexicality, musical repetition and musical authenticity. Postings reveal how music conveys individual taste and is linked to personal memories and Heidegger’s coincidental time where moments of authenticity may be triggered in a melee of emotions, memories and projections. Identity protection is enabled as consumers frequently resist advertisers’ attempts to use musical repetition to impose normative identity. Critiques of repetition in the music produce Heideggerian anxiety leading to critically reflective resistance. Similarly, where advertising devalues the authenticity of iconic pieces of music, consumers often resist such authenticity transgressions as a threat to their own identity. The Heideggerian search for meaning in life emphasizes the significance of philosophically driven ideological authenticity in consumers’ responses to music in advertisements

Secondary school pupils' preferences for different types of structured grouping practices

The aim of this paper is to explore pupils’ preferences for particular types of grouping practices an area neglected in earlier research focusing on the personal and social outcomes of ability grouping. The sample comprised over 5,000 year 9 pupils (aged 13-14 years) in 45 mixed secondary comprehensive schools in England. The schools represented three levels of ability grouping in the lower school (years 7 to 9). Pupils responded to a questionnaire which explored the types of grouping that they preferred and the reasons for their choices. The majority of pupils preferred setting, although this was mediated by their set placement, type of school, socio-economic status and gender. The key reason given for this preference was that it enabled work to be matched to learning needs. The paper considers whether there are other ways of achieving this avoiding the negative social and personal outcomes of setting for some pupils

Understanding the Effects of the Neighbourhood Built Environment on Public Health with Open Data

The investigation of the effect of the built environment in a neighbourhood and how it impacts residents' health is of value to researchers from public health policy to social science. The traditional methods to assess this impact is through surveys which lead to temporally and spatially coarse grained data and are often not cost effective. Here we propose an approach to link the effects of neighbourhood services over citizen health using a technique that attempts to highlight the cause-effect aspects of these relationships. The method is based on the theory of {\em propensity score matching with multiple `doses'} and it leverages existing fine grained open web data. To demonstrate the method, we study the effect of sport venue presence on the prevalence of antidepressant prescriptions in over 600 neighbourhoods in London over a period of three years. We find the distribution of effects is approximately normal, centred on a small negative effect on prescriptions with increases in the availability of sporting facilities, on average. We assess the procedure through some standard quantitative metrics as well as matching on synthetic data generated by modelling the real data. This approach opens the door to fast and inexpensive alternatives to quantify and continuously monitor effects of the neighborhood built environment on population health.Cambridge Trust and King's Colleg

Limiting Behaviour of the Mean Residual Life

In survival or reliability studies, the mean residual life or life expectancy is an important characteristic of the model. Here, we study the limiting behaviour of the mean residual life, and derive an asymptotic expansion which can be used to obtain a good approximation for large values of the time variable. The asymptotic expansion is valid for a quite general class of failure rate distributions--perhaps the largest class that can be expected given that the terms depend only on the failure rate and its derivatives.Comment: 19 page