Searching for New Physics in the Three-Body Decays of the Higgs-like Particle

We show that the three-body decays of the resonance recently discovered at the LHC are potentially sensitive to effects of new physics. Even if the fully integrated partial decay widths are consistent with the minimal Standard Model there is information that is lost upon integration, which can be uncovered in the differential decay widths. Concentrating on the decay $h \to Z \ell \bar{\ell}$, we identify the regions in the three-body phase space in which these effects become especially pronounced and could be detected in future experiments.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, matches version published in JHE

Theoretical Constraints on Additional Higgs Bosons in Light of the 126 GeV Higgs

We present a sum rule for Higgs fields in general representations under $SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y$ that follows from the connection between the Higgs couplings and the mechanism that gives the electroweak bosons their masses, and at the same time restricts these couplings. Sum rules that follow from perturbative unitarity will require us to include singly and doubly charged Higgses in our analysis. We examine the consequences of these sum rules for Higgs phenomenology in both model independent and model specific ways. The relation between our sum rules and other works, based on dispersion relations, is also clarified.Comment: 53 pages, 17 figures. Version 3: expanded references, matched JHEP versio

Ideal Patriots: The Boy Scouts of America as Propaganda during the First World War

Boy Scouts of America were effective at selling the World War I both physically and emotionally on the American home front. This study reveals how the Boy Scouts’ achievements on the home front translate as a means of propaganda. Their actions and bodies demonstrate a new way of looking at propaganda. The federal government used this group of children as an acceptable means of propagating wartime service. Viewing these Scouts and their actions this study shows how the federal government put Scouts in a position to promote wartime expectations. Utilizing manly expectations to push Scouts and other men to serve in any way possible sent Scouts flocking into their communities, creating a new visible means of propaganda on the American home front

A TEST OF ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESES FOR CHARACTER DIVERGENCE BETWEEN COEXISTING SPECIES

Why do closely related, coexisting species typically differ in phenotypic features associated with resource use? One answer to this question is that such differences might generally evolve in allopatry, as different species adapt to divergent environmental conditions, and any differences that thereby accumulate might subsequently enable coexistence in sympatry. Alternatively, coexisting species might generally diverge in sympatry, because of selection to reduce competition for food (character displacement). Here we evaluated these two causes of character divergence by asking which hypothesis better explains differences in feeding morphology between tadpoles of two species of spadefoot toads, Spea bombifrons and S. multiplicata. We found that, in natural ponds containing both species, S. multiplicata almost always developed into a smaller, round-bodied tadpole with normal sized jaw muscles used for feeding on detritus at the pond bottom (the omnivore morph), whereas S. bombifrons almost always developed into a larger, flat-headed tadpole with greatly enlarged jaw muscles used for feeding on crustaceans in open water (the carnivore morph). By contrast, in all but one of 18 similar ponds containing a single species, both species expressed both phenotypes. Divergence between species in morph production appears to have evolved in sympatry: when we compared population means for each of four key trophic characters, we found that no allopatric population of S. bombifrons was as carnivore-like as the sympatric S. bombifrons, and, for three of four characters, no allopatric population of S. multiplicata was as omnivore-like as the sympatric S. multiplicata. In contrast to significant differences in trophic characters, we found no divergence between allopatric and sympatric populations in a character not directly involved in feeding on detritus or crustaceans (overall body size). These data, together with our earlier experimental work, reveal that coexisting S. bombifrons and S. multiplicata have diverged from one another in resource use and in phenotypic features associated with resource use because of selection to reduce competition for food (i.e., character displacement). Spea tadpoles, therefore, are one of few systems for which both experimental and observational evidence link phenotypic divergence to resource competition, thereby providing a model for understanding why coexisting species often differ phenotypically

Preserving the Progressive Spirit in a Conservative Time: The Joint Reform Efforts of Justice Brandeis and Professor Frankfurter, 1916-1933

On January 28, 1916, President Wilson sent the name of Louis D. Brandeis to the Senate for confirmation as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Wilson\u27s act surprised many Americans and sparked one of the bitterest confirmation struggles in the history of the Republic. The nomination and the confirmation that followed also created a painful and highly personal dilemma for the new Justice. This dilemma led Brandeis to a private arrangement that opened an unusual and revealing chapter in the story of the extra judicial activities of American justices. Even more important, the arrangement constitutes a noteworthy episode in the history of twentieth-century American liberalism

Five year prognosis in patients with angina identified in primary care : incident cohort study

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A qualitative analysis of haptic feedback in music focused exercises new interfaces for musical expression

We present the findings of a pilot-study that analysed the role of haptic feedback in a musical context. To closely examine the role of haptics in Digital Musical Instrument (DMI) design an experiment was formulated to measure the users’ perception of device usability across four separate feedback stages: fully haptic (force and tactile combined), constant force only, vibrotactile only, and no feedback. The study was piloted over extended periods with the intention of exploring the application and integration of DMIs in real-world musical contexts. Applying a music orientated analysis of this type enabled the investigative process to not only take place over a comprehensive period, but allowed for the exploration of DMI integration in everyday compositional and explorative practices. As with any investigation that involves creativity, it was important that the participants did not feel rushed or restricted. That is, they were given sufficient time to explore and assess the different feedback types without constraint. This provided an accurate and representational set of qualitative data for validating the participants’ experience with the different feedback types they were presented with

Haptics in music: the effects of vibrotactile stimulus in low frequency auditory difference detection tasks

We present an experiment that investigated the effect of vibrotactile stimulation in auditory pitch discrimination tasks. Extra-auditory information was expected to have some influence upon the frequency discrimination of auditory Just Noticeable Difference (JND) detection levels at 160 Hz. To measure this, the potential to correctly identified positive and negative frequency changes for two randomly divided groups was measured and then compared. The first group was given an audio only JND test and the second group was given the same test, but with additional vibrotactile stimulus delivered via a vibrating glove device. The results of the experiment suggest that in musical interactions involving the selection of specific pitches, or the detection of pitch variation, vibrotactile feedback may have some advantageous effect upon a musician's ability to perceive changes when presented in synchrony with auditory stimulus

Vertebrate DM domain proteins bind similar DNA sequences and can heterodimerize on DNA

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background:</p> <p>The DM domain is a zinc finger-like DNA binding motif first identified in the sexual regulatory proteins Doublesex (DSX) and MAB-3, and is widely conserved among metazoans. DM domain proteins regulate sexual differentiation in at least three phyla and also control other aspects of development, including vertebrate segmentation. Most DM domain proteins share little similarity outside the DM domain. DSX and MAB-3 bind partially overlapping DNA sequences, and DSX has been shown to interact with DNA via the minor groove without inducing DNA bending. DSX and MAB-3 exhibit unusually high DNA sequence specificity relative to other minor groove binding proteins. No detailed analysis of DNA binding by the seven vertebrate DM domain proteins, DMRT1-DMRT7 has been reported, and thus it is unknown whether they recognize similar or diverse DNA sequences.</p> <p>Results:</p> <p>We used a random oligonucleotide in vitro selection method to determine DNA binding sites for six of the seven proteins. These proteins selected sites resembling that of DSX despite differences in the sequence of the DM domain recognition helix, but they varied in binding efficiency and in preferences for particular nucleotides, and some behaved anomalously in gel mobility shift assays. DMRT1 protein from mouse testis extracts binds the sequence we determined, and the DMRT proteins can bind their in vitro-defined sites in transfected cells. We also find that some DMRT proteins can bind DNA as heterodimers.</p> <p>Conclusion:</p> <p>Our results suggest that target gene specificity of the DMRT proteins does not derive exclusively from major differences in DNA binding specificity. Instead target specificity may come from more subtle differences in DNA binding preference between different homodimers, together with differences in binding specificity between homodimers versus heterodimers.</p

An upper-limit on the linear polarization fraction of the GW170817 radio continuum

We present late-time radio observations of GW170817, the first binary neutron star merger discovered through gravitational waves by the advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors. Our observations, carried out with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, were optimized to detect polarized radio emission, and thus to constrain the linear polarization fraction of GW170817. At an epoch of ~244 days after the merger, we rule out linearly polarized emission above a fraction of ~12% at a frequency of 2.8 GHz (99% confidence). Within the structured jet scenario (a.k.a. successful jet plus cocoon system) for GW170817, the derived upper-limit on the radio continuum linear polarization fraction strongly constrains the magnetic field configuration in the shocked ejecta. We show that our results for GW170817 are compatible with the low level of linear polarization found in afterglows of cosmological long gamma-ray bursts. Finally, we discuss our findings in the context of future expectations for the study of radio counterparts of binary neutron star mergers identified by ground-based gravitational-wave detectors.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl