Associated Top-Higgs production at future colliders

We discuss the relevance of the associated production of a Higgs boson with a pair of top-antitop quarks at both the LHC and a future high energy e^+e^- collider.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Talk given at DPF 2000: The Meeting of the Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society, Columbus, Ohio, 9-12 Aug 200

Canada-Mexico Trade: An Arranged Marriage Comes Of Age

If Canada’s interest in the North American Free Trade Agreement was in deepening regional trade integration between our economy and the U.S. and Mexico, then we could say it certainly succeeded — at least for about five years. By 1999, however, Canada’s NAFTA trade had peaked, and it has since only declined as a share of its trade with the rest of the world: from 79 to 66 per cent. Truly free trade with the U.S. has proved elusive — the number of professions granted labour-mobility concessions under NAFTA has gone virtually unchanged for 20 years — and trade irritants continue to rankle on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border (think: country-oforigin labelling and “Buy America” rules). That has left Canada looking to strike more free-trade deals in new, farther-flung markets, as a way of diversifying its export markets. In the meantime, the low-cost labour advantages that Mexico 20 years ago offered its NAFTA partners were soon eroded by Asian emerging-market competitors, particularly China. But while Canada was scouring the globe for promising new bilateral trade partnerships, we overlooked the transformation happening on our doorstep in Mexico: it has become an especially promising emerging market itself. It has a growing consumer base, with its middle class alone exceeding the entire population of Canada. The number of Mexican students in higher education has tripled over the last three decades. Its recent economic growth rates have been 1.5 to two times higher than that of either Canada or the U.S. and its GDP is projected to quadruple by 2050, making it one of the world’s five-largest economies. Mexico has also become an enthusiastic trader, eagerly pursuing new global trade opportunities while persistently calling for the expansion of North American trade linkages, including direct bilateral deals with Canada. Meanwhile, global value chains are increasingly regional in nature, suggesting there exists a great deal of potential in a deeper relationship between Canada and Mexico, rather than each country largely relating to one another through their mutual relationship with the United States. There are a number of barriers in the way of course. Canada is displeased with Mexico’s impediments to Canadian beef imports, and Mexicans remain aggravated over Canada’s heightened visa restrictions. The relationship is tepid and its future uncertain. But the two countries do have a head start in pursuing deeper integration, thanks to the common trade rules and dispute-settlement procedures already established through their partnership in NAFTA, and a closer relationship with one another would help both countries form an effective counterbalance against the U.S. on matters of joint interest. A medium-sized economy like Canada cannot be competitive everywhere. Our greatest advantage lies at home, in North America, where we can advance our role in the regional supply chain. Putting our greatest focus on North America means intensifying our trading relationship with Mexico. Fortunately for us, it happens to be one of the most promising emerging markets in the world

The Art of Social Justice

As this HJSR special issue on social justice unfolded, it became clear to the editorial team that this publication would be incomplete without addressing the well-documented role of art in social justice movements. We asked two of our managing editors, Jennifer Miles and Laura Dawson, to research and write about this area of social action. They interviewed two artists, a spoken word performer and a visual artist, both of whom understand their art as part of larger social justice projects. These artists raise awareness, highlight obstacles and avenues for change, and create space for solidarity and sanctuary. The following montage situates their artistry within their own biographies and a rich history of social change through art. Mary Virnoche and Jennifer Eichstedt, Editors

Masses of high-redshift clusters via SZ effect observations

Journal ArticleWe present Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect (SZE) observations of distant, highly X-ray luminous clusters of galaxies. We use the SZE data to constrain their total masses, independent of X-ray observations. To do this, we assume the clusters have the same gas mass fraction as that derived from SZE measurements of a sample of known massive clusters, and then infer each cluster's mass from its SZE data. In the systems with published X-ray temperatures, we find good agreement between our SZE-derived temperatures and those inferred from X-ray spectroscopy; in the system without X-ray derived temperatures, the SZE data provide the first confirmation that it is indeed a massive system. The abundance of clusters at high redshift is critically sensitive to the values of the cosmological parameters and so the demonstrated ability to determine cluster temperatures and masses from SZE observations independent of X-ray data illustrates the power of using deep SZE surveys to probe the distant universe

Can agricultural intensification help attain Sustainable Development Goals? Evidence from Africa and Asia

Market-oriented agricultural intensification is a major development strategy, yet its alignment with sustainable development goals (SDGs) is unclear. We apply indicators for SDG 2 (eradicate hunger) regarding income, food production, food security and land tenure to recent intensifications in Rwanda and Laos to reveal their disaggregated impacts. We find while market-oriented intensification may generate poverty reduction, it also exacerbated marginalisation and poverty through various forms of land tenure insecurity. Ethnicity and gender were influential factors in Rwanda, and post-conflict resettlement policies in Laos. We discuss implications for development practice and selection of suitable indicators to reflect the ambition of the SDGs

End-of-life priorities of older adults with terminal illness and caregivers: A qualitative consultation

Abstract Background As older adults approach the end‐of‐life (EOL), many are faced with complex decisions including whether to use medical advances to prolong life. Limited information exists on the priorities of older adults at the EOL. Objective This study aimed to explore patient and family experiences and identify factors deemed important to quality EOL care. Method A descriptive qualitative study involving three focus group discussions (n = 18) and six in‐depth interviews with older adults suffering from either a terminal condition and/or caregivers were conducted in NSW, Australia. Data were analysed thematically. Results Seven major themes were identified as follows: quality as a priority, sense of control, life on hold, need for health system support, being at home, talking about death and competent and caring health professionals. An underpinning priority throughout the seven themes was knowing and adhering to patient's wishes. Conclusion Our study highlights that to better adhere to EOL patient's wishes a reorganization of care needs is required. The readiness of the health system to cater for this expectation is questionable as real choices may not be available in acute hospital settings. With an ageing population, a reorganization of care which influences the way we manage terminal patients is required

Governing for ecosystem health and human wellbeing

Governance arrangements and processes influence access to and benefits from ecosystem services, and therefore the potential for ecosystem services to alleviate poverty. Governance also then influences the health of ecosystems. This chapter learns from decades of governance-related research to identify how to make ecosystem governance more effectively ‘pro-poor’. It is informed by a systematic mapping of literature related to governance of ecosystem services and renewable natural resources for improved wellbeing and poverty alleviation, expert interviews and a workshop with government and non-government actors across a range of sectors from both North and South. The chapter is organised around the concept of trade-offs, considering first ecosystem-focused approaches, then rights-based approaches and lastly, participatory approaches to governance. The chapter further addresses the relevance of scale and multiple administrative levels (multi-level governance) and the importance of informal, or socially embedded, institutions. The chapter concludes that there is no single governance approach that can definitively deliver on improved ecosystem health and human wellbeing, that trade-offs are inevitable and governance is therefore an inherently political process

The Impact of Left Hemisphere Stroke on Force Control with Familiar and Novel Objects: Neuroanatomic Substrates and Relationship to Apraxia

Fingertip force scaling for lifting objects frequently occurs in anticipation of finger contact. An ongoing question concerns the types of memories that are used to inform predictive control. Object-specific information such as weight may be stored and retrieved when previously encountered objects are lifted again. Alternatively, visual size and shape cues may provide estimates of object density each time objects are encountered. We reasoned that differences in performance with familiar versus novel objects would provide support for the former possibility. Anticipatory force production with both familiar and novel objects was assessed in six left hemisphere stroke patients, two of whom exhibited deficient actions with familiar objects (ideomotor apraxia; IMA), along with five control subjects. In contrast to healthy controls and stroke participants without IMA, participants with IMA displayed poor anticipatory scaling with familiar objects. However, like the other groups, IMA participants learned to differentiate fingertip forces with repeated lifts of both familiar and novel objects. Finally, there was a significant correlation between damage to the inferior parietal and superior and middle temporal lobes and impaired anticipatory control for familiar objects. These data support the hypotheses that anticipatory control during lifts of familiar objects in IMA patients are based on object-specific memories and that the ventro-dorsal stream is involved in the long-term storage of internal models used for anticipatory scaling during object manipulation

Demographic and Driving Performance Factors in Simulator Adaptation Syndrome

Simulation is an important option for testing at-risk drivers with medical impairments. Simulator Adaptation Syndrome (SAS), characterized by autonomic symptoms, presents a drawback to testing. This study investigated new issues regarding susceptibility of neurologically impaired drivers to SAS, scenario situations most likely to cause SAS, and effects of SAS on driver performance. Subjects were 164 drivers enrolled in larger ongoing studies of at-risk older drivers. Eighteen had Alzheimer’s disease (AD), 44 stroke, and 102 were neurologically normal controls. Experimental drives were conducted using a fixed-base high-fidelity simulator with a 150º forward field of view. Each driver completed a questionnaire immediately after driving in the simulator, rating any feelings of discomfort along nine dimensions; an overall discomfort score was calculated. Of the 164 drivers, 130 completed the full drive and 34 ended the drive early. Drivers with higher overall discomfort scores were more likely to drop out before completing a drive. Specific symptoms strongly predicted dropping out, namely dizziness, nervousness, light-headedness, body temperature increase, and nausea. Simulator dropout rates and reported discomfort scores were significantly greater in women than men, but did not differ between drivers with AD or stroke and neurologically normal drivers. Comparisons between 32 Dropouts and 32 Non-Dropouts (matched by age, gender, neurological impairment, and scenario driven) showed no evidence that higher levels of discomfort cause a driver to perform atypically before the point of dropout. We could relate dropout to specific segments and events in the drive that required abrupt braking

Calls for Police Service: Understanding the demand profile and the UK police response

Purpose – The purpose of this research paper is to identify and understand the demand profile of a division of Lancashire Police Constabulary in order to assist Police administrators in the evaluation of demand and understanding of Policing response. Design/methodology/approach – Police data records regarding all offences within the Central Division of Lancashire Police Constabulary over the year of 2013 were examined. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the top ten demand addresses in five categories (residential, statutory bodies, retail, nightlife, and young people’s services), and the incident classifications, time frames and response codes that were most associated with these addresses. Further content analysis was conducted on the top ten residential addresses in order to identify specific characteristics of residential demand. Findings - The majority of Lancashire Constabulary resources are being spent dealing with non-traditional police demand. The most demanding residents were found to have one or more of the following properties; (i) to be of white – Northern European origin, (ii) to be unemployed, (iii) to be associated with mental health issues, domestic violence incidents or substance abuse, and (iv) to have previously had other agency involvement. Practical Implications - These results indicate that the police could potentially reduce the demand for service by enhancing work within two key areas; partnership working and early intervention. Originality/value – In this time of austerity and police budget cuts, it is important to understand the demand on the UK police service in an attempt to reduce it