'Tory-normativity' and gay rights advocacy in the British Conservative Party since the 1950s

Gay rights advocacy in the Conservative party since the 1950s played-down its difference from Conservative beliefs by emphasising pragmatism over emancipation; discretion over celebration; and responsibility over rights. This positioning was allied to a construction of gay men and women in the image of the idealised conservative citizen: law-abiding, entrepreneurial, and ultimately familial—a process I label "Tory-normativity". Tory-normativity introduced gay rights advocacy into the party in an acceptable form, and consequently caused party policy to develop. Ultimately, the construction of Tory-normativity has been used to depoliticise gay identity: initially gay men, and then from the 2000s onwards, gay men and women

Optimizing a Virtual Human Platform for Depression/Suicide Ideation Identification for the American Soldier

Suicide surpassed homicide to be the second leading cause of death among people 10-24 years old in the United States \cite{1}. This statistic is alarming especially when combined with the more than eight distinctly different types of clinical depression among society today \cite{2}. To further complicate this health crisis, let’s consider the current worldwide isolating pandemic often referred to as COVID-19 that has spanned 12 months. It is more important than ever to consider how we can get ahead of the crisis by identifying the symptoms as they set in and more importantly ahead of the decision to commit suicide. To capitalize on the modern shift to electronic-based interactions \cite{1}, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) methods to aid in identification have been previously implemented in Virtual Human interviewing platforms. This effort examines these existing approaches and includes an independent survey that is used to solve the gap in early identification of depression and suicidal ideation using a virtual human interviewing platform by soliciting honest, open, and current feedback from Soldiers on how to optimize such a system to encourage its use in the future. Specifically, the analysis of the survey results identify critical gaps from a participants perspective to be security, customization\u27s, and error handling recommended to be included in future development of the EMPOWER (Enhancing Mental Performance and Optimizing Warfighter Effectiveness and Resilience: From MultiSense to OmniSense) platform. These recommendations are provided to the USC-ICT EMPOWER team to be included in the next prototype and system test

Aircraft Demand Forecasting

This thesis aims to forecast aircraft demand in the aerospace and defense industry, specifically aircraft orders and deliveries. Orders are often placed by airline companies with aircraft manufacturers, and then suddenly canceled due to changes in plans. Therefore, at some point during the three-year lead time, the number of orders placed and realized deliveries may be quite different. As a result, orders and deliveries are very difficult to predict and are influenced by many different factors. Among these factors are past trends, macroeconomic indicators as well as aircraft sales measures. These predictor variables were analyzed thoroughly, then used with time series and multiple regression forecasting methods to develop different forecasts for quarterly and annual orders and deliveries. The relative accuracies of forecasts were measured and compared through the use of Theil’s U statistic. Finally, a linear program was used to aggregate multiple forecasts to develop an optimal combination of all forecasts. In conclusion, the methods employed in this thesis are quite effective and produce a wholesome aggregate forecast with an error that is generally quite low for a forecasting task as challenging as this one

Bs→KℓνB_s \to K \ell \nu form factors from lattice QCD

We report the first lattice QCD calculation of the form factors for the standard model tree-level decay $B_s\to K \ell\nu$. In combination with future measurement, this calculation will provide an alternative exclusive semileptonic determination of $|V_{ub}|$. We compare our results with previous model calculations, make predictions for differential decay rates and branching fractions, and predict the ratio of differential branching fractions between $B_s\to K\tau\nu$ and $B_s\to K\mu\nu$. We also present standard model predictions for differential decay rate forward-backward asymmetries, polarization fractions, and calculate potentially useful ratios of $B_s\to K$ form factors with those of the fictitious $B_s\to\eta_s$ decay. Our lattice simulations utilize NRQCD $b$ and HISQ light quarks on a subset of the MILC Collaboration's $2+1$ asqtad gauge configurations, including two lattice spacings and a range of light quark masses.Comment: 24 pages, 21 figures; Ver. 2 matches published versio

B→Dlν form factors at nonzero recoil and extraction of |Vcb|

We present a lattice QCD calculation of the B→Dlν semileptonic decay form factors f+(q2) and f0(q2) for the entire physical q2 range. Nonrelativistic QCD bottom quarks and highly improved staggered quark charm and light quarks are employed together with Nf=2+1 MILC gauge configurations. A joint fit to our lattice and BABAR experimental data allows an extraction of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element |Vcb|. We also determine the phenomenologically interesting ratio R(D)=B(B→Dτντ)/B(B→Dlνl) (l=e,μ). We find |Vcb|B→Dexcl=0.0402(17)(13), where the first error consists of the lattice simulation errors and the experimental statistical error and the second error is the experimental systematic error. For the branching fraction ratio we find R(D)=0.300(8)

B and Bs semileptonic decay form factors with NRQCD/HISQ quarks

We discuss our ongoing effort to calculate form factors for several B and Bs semileptonic decays. We have recently completed the first unquenched calculation of the form factors for the rare decay B -> K ll. Extrapolated over the full kinematic range of q^2 via model-independent z expansion, these form factor results allow us to calculate several Standard Model observables. We compare with experiment (Belle, BABAR, CDF, and LHCb) where possible and make predictions elsewhere. We discuss preliminary results for Bs -> K l nu which, when combined with anticipated experimental results, will provide an alternative exclusive determination of |Vub|. We are exploring the possibility of using ratios of form factors for this decay with those for the unphysical decay Bs -> eta_s as a means of significantly reducing form factor errors. We are also studying B -> pi l nu, form factors for which are combined with experiment in the standard exclusive determination of |Vub|. Our simulations use NRQCD heavy and HISQ light valence quarks on the MILC 2+1 dynamical asqtad configurations.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, presented at the 31st International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2013), 29 July - 3 August 2013, Mainz, German

Bs→DsℓνB_s \to D_s \ell \nu Form Factors and the Fragmentation Fraction Ratio fs/fdf_s/f_d

We present a lattice quantum chromodynamics determination of the scalar and vector form factors for the $B_s \rightarrow D_s \ell \nu$ decay over the full physical range of momentum transfer. In conjunction with future experimental data, our results will provide a new method to extract $|V_{cb}|$, which may elucidate the current tension between exclusive and inclusive determinations of this parameter. Combining the form factor results at non-zero recoil with recent HPQCD results for the $B \rightarrow D \ell \nu$ form factors, we determine the ratios $f^{B_s \rightarrow D_s}_0(M_\pi^2) / f^{B \rightarrow D}_0(M_K^2) = 1.000(62)$ and $f^{B_s \rightarrow D_s}_0(M_\pi^2) / f^{B \rightarrow D}_0(M_\pi^2) = 1.006(62)$. These results give the fragmentation fraction ratios $f_s/f_d = 0.310(30)_{\mathrm{stat.}}(21)_{\mathrm{syst.}}(6)_{\mathrm{theor.}}(38)_{\mathrm{latt.}}$ and $f_s/f_d = 0.307(16)_{\mathrm{stat.}}(21)_{\mathrm{syst.}}(23)_{\mathrm{theor.}}(44)_{\mathrm{latt.}}$, respectively. The fragmentation fraction ratio is an important ingredient in experimental determinations of $B_s$ meson branching fractions at hadron colliders, in particular for the rare decay ${\cal B}(B_s \rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-)$. In addition to the form factor results, we make the first prediction of the branching fraction ratio $R(D_s) = {\cal B}(B_s\to D_s\tau\nu)/{\cal B}(B_s\to D_s\ell\nu) = 0.301(6)$, where $\ell$ is an electron or muon. Current experimental measurements of the corresponding ratio for the semileptonic decays of $B$ mesons disagree with Standard Model expectations at the level of nearly four standard deviations. Future experimental measurements of $R(D_s)$ may help understand this discrepancy.Comment: 21 pages, 15 figure