Much Ado About Leptoquarks: A Comprehensive Analysis

We examine the phenomenological implications of a 200 GeV leptoquark in light of the recent excess of events at HERA. Given the relative predictions of events rates in e^+p versus e^-p, we demonstrate that classes of leptoquarks may be excluded, including those contained in E_6 GUT models. It is shown that future studies with polarized beams at HERA could reveal the chirality of the leptoquark fermionic coupling and that given sufficient luminosity in each e^\pm_{L,R} channel the leptoquark quantum numbers could be determined. The implications of 200-220 GeV leptoquarks at the Tevatron are examined. While present Tevatron data most likely excludes vector leptoquarks and leptogluons in this mass region, it does allow for scalar leptoquarks. We find that while leptoquarks have little influence on Drell-Yan production, further studies at the Main Injector are possible in the single production channel. We investigate precision electroweak measurements as well as the process e^+e^-\to q\bar q at LEP II and find they provide no further restrictions on these leptoquark models. We then ascertain that cross section and polarization asymmetry measurements at the NLC provide the only direct mechanism to determine the leptoquark's electroweak quantum numbers. The single production of leptoquarks in \gamma e collisions by both the backscattered laser and Weisacker-Williams techniques at the NLC is also discussed. Finally, we demonstrate that we can obtain successful coupling constant unification in models with leptoquarks, both with or without supersymmetry. The supersymmetric case requires the GUT group to be larger than SU(5) such as flipped SU(5)\times U(1)_X.Comment: Corrected single production cross section at Tevatron, updated atomic parity violation constraints, 55 page

State business: gender, sex and marriage in Tajikistan

This article examines the relation of the state to masculinity and sexuality by way of an exploration of the sexual problems of a young man and his wife in Tajikistan at the end of the Soviet era. It suggests that the regime’s inattention to this kind of issue was bound up with the importance to the state of projecting appropriate versions of masculinity. It further posits the idea that the continued refusal of the independent Tajik state to offer appropriate treatments for sexual dysfunction is consistent with the image of modernity President Rahmon wishes to present to the world. The article shows that as masculinity discursively occupies the superior gender position, with men expected to dominate, the state is itself impotent to respond when they are, in fact, unable to do so in sexual practice. However, the myth of male dominance persists to the point that it may prevent women from seeing beyond their subordination and finding mutually beneficial solutions in their familial and sexual relationships

Global Study of Electron-Quark Contact Interactions

We perform a global fit of data relevant to $eeqq$ contact interactions, including deep inelastic scattering at high $Q^2$ from ZEUS and H1, atomic physics parity violation in Cesium from JILA, polarized $e^-$ on nuclei scattering experiments at SLAC, Mainz and Bates, Drell-Yan production at the Tevatron, the total hadronic cross section $\sigma_{had}$ at LEP, and neutrino-nucleon scattering from CCFR. With only the new HERA data, the presence of contact interactions improves the fit compared to the Standard Model. When other data sets are included, the size of the contact contributions is reduced and the overall fit represents no real improvement over the Standard Model.Comment: 26 pages (now single-spaced), Revtex, 2 eps figures, uses epsf.sty. Some clarifications, minor corrections, 2 new references, also 3 new tables which present 95% CL bounds on the contact interaction scales Lambd

Don't Stop Thinking About Leptoquarks: Constructing New Models

We discuss the general framework for the construction of new models containing a single, fermion number zero scalar leptoquark of mass $\simeq 200-220$ GeV which can both satisfy the D0/CDF search constraints as well as low energy data, and can lead to both neutral and charged current-like final states at HERA. The class of models of this kind necessarily contain new vector-like fermions with masses at the TeV scale which mix with those of the Standard Model after symmetry breaking. In this paper we classify all models of this type and examine their phenomenological implications as well as their potential embedding into SUSY and non-SUSY GUT scenarios. The general coupling parameter space allowed by low energy as well as collider data for these models is described and requires no fine-tuning of the parameters.Comment: Modified text, added table, and updated reference

Machine learning algorithms distinguish discrete digital emotional fingerprints for web pages related to back pain

Back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Its emergence relates not only to the musculoskeletal degeneration biological substrate but also to psychosocial factors; emotional components play a pivotal role. In modern society, people are significantly informed by the Internet; in turn, they contribute social validation to a “successful” digital information subset in a dynamic interplay. The Affective component of medical pages has not been previously investigated, a significant gap in knowledge since they represent a critical biopsychosocial feature. We tested the hypothesis that successful pages related to spine pathology embed a consistent emotional pattern, allowing discrimination from a control group. The pool of web pages related to spine or hip/knee pathology was automatically selected by relevance and popularity and submitted to automated sentiment analysis to generate emotional patterns. Machine Learning (ML) algorithms were trained to predict page original topics from patterns with binary classification. ML showed high discrimination accuracy; disgust emerged as a discriminating emotion. The findings suggest that the digital affective “successful content” (collective consciousness) integrates patients’ biopsychosocial ecosystem, with potential implications for the emergence of chronic pain, and the endorsement of health-relevant specific behaviors. Awareness of such effects raises practical and ethical issues for health information providers

Summary of the SUSY Working Group of the 1999 Les Houches Workshop

The results obtained by the Working Group on Supersymmetry at the 1999 Les Houches Workshop on Collider Physics are summarized. Separate chapters treat "general" supersymmetry, R-parity violation, gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, and anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking.Comment: LaTeX, 110 pages with numerous .ps and .eps files. proc.tex is main tex fil

Platelet-rich plasma induces post-natal maturation of immature articular cartilage and correlates with LOXL1 activation

Platelet-­rich plasma (PRP) is used to stimulate the repair of acute and chronic cartilage damage even though there is no definitive evidence of how this is achieved. Chondrocytes in injured and diseased situations frequently re­ express phenotypic biomarkers of immature cartilage so tissue maturation is a potential pathway for restoration of normal structure and function. We used an in vitro model of growth factor­induced maturation to perform a comparative study in order to determine whether PRP can also induce this specific form of remodeling that is characterised by increased cellular proliferation and tissue stiffness. Gene expression patterns specific for maturation were mimicked in PRP treated cartilage, with chondromodulin, collagen types II/X downregulated, deiodinase II and netrin­1 upregulated. PRP increased cartilage surface cell density 1.5­fold (P < 0.05), confirmed by bromodeoxyuridine incorporation and proportionate increases in proliferating cell nuclear antigen gene expression. Atomic force microscopy analysis of PRP and growth factor treated cartilage gave a 5­fold increase in stiffness correlating with a 10­fold upregulation of lysyl oxidase like­1 gene expression (P < 0.001). These data show PRP induces key aspects of post­natal maturation in immature cartilage and provides the basis to evaluate a new biological rationale for its activity when used clinically to initiate joint repair