CMS Measurements of the Higgs-like Boson In the Two Photon Decay Channel

CMS reports on the recently updated, preliminary results with the full datasets of 2011 and 2012 in the analysis of the Higgs-like Boson at 125 GeV. Utilizing 5.1$fb^{-1}$ of 7 TeV data and 19.6$fb^{-1}$ of 8 TeV data, a signal strength of $0.78^{+0.28}_{-0.26}$ times the Standard Model (SM) expectations with a mass of $125.4\pm0.8$ GeV is observed. The significance of this resonance with respect to the background only prediction is $3.2\sigma$. The cut-based cross-check analysis observes signal strength of $1.11^{+0.32}_{-0.30}$ times the SM expectations with a significance of $3.9\sigma$ at 124.5 GeV.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, LISHEP 2013 Conference Proceeding

Heteroskedasticity-Robust Inference in Finite Samples

Since the advent of heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors, several papers have proposed adjustments to the original White formulation. We replicate earlier findings that each of these adjusted estimators performs quite poorly in finite samples. We propose a class of alternative heteroskedasticity-robust tests of linear hypotheses based on an Edgeworth expansions of the test statistic distribution. Our preferred test outperforms existing methods in both size and power for low, moderate, and severe levels of heteroskedasticity.

Functional Alterations in the Amygdala Following Traumatic Brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) afflicts approximately 3.8 million people each year, in the United States alone. In addition to the largely acute physical and cognitive symptoms of TBI, patients exhibit a heightened risk of developing persistent neuropsychological symptoms including anxiety, aggression, rage, depression/anhedonia and apathy in the months to years after TBI. Despite the deleterious impact of these neuropsychological symptoms, very little is known of their neurological bases and there is currently no treatment targeting the underlying neuropathology giving rise to these symptoms. Employing a murine model of mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (mTBI), known as lateral fluid percussion injury (LFPI), we examined the effects mTBI on the physiology and function of the amygdala; a brain structure critical in processing emotional responses to sensory stimuli in humans. Behavioral experiments using a cued-fear conditioning paradigm, revealed significant deficits in the behavioral threat response of brain injured animals. We then utilized a combination of intracellular, extracellular, and voltage sensitive dye imaging (VSD) recording techniques to determine electrophysiological alterations in the amygdala following LFPI. These experiments revealed that LPFI causes a robust decrease in network excitability and circuit propagation strength in the basolateral and central amygdalae (BLA & CeA), without affecting the intrinsic excitability of BLA pyramidal neurons. Further experiments demonstrated that the injury-induced decrease in BLA network excitability is due in part to a decrease in glutamatergic excitation and preservation or augmentation of GABAergic inhibition; which increases the ratio inhibition to excitation in the amygdala of brain injured animals. This work demonstrates that mTBI has robust effects on amygdalar physiology that ultimately disrupt its normal function. The brain injury induced alterations in amygdalar function described herein, provide a potential neurological substrate for the neuropsychological symptoms suffered by TBI patients

A Search For the Higgs Boson in CMS in the Two Photon Decay Channel

We report on a search for SM Higgs Boson in the two photon decay mode conducted by the CMS experiment with the data accumulated during the 2010 & 2011 running of the LHC at center of mass collision energy of 7 TeV

Political Attitudes and Behavior in a Pandemic: Factors Affecting Compliance with COVID-19 Policies

The ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis provides a unique opportunity to examine the role that public opinion plays in policy efficacy. More specifically, what factors contribute to different policy outcomes within the population? Governments and institutions at all levels have sought to incentivize compliance behavior utilizing different approaches. Statistical models were used to examine the relationship between attitudes and behaviors within the United States in this context. Trust is the primary focus in this paper because of its role in a public health crisis with consideration for rules and norms of social interaction. The analysis herein shows that social trust is a significant consideration for policy-related outcomes while political trust is not. Additionally, ideology and attitudes supporting coronavirus policy provide some explanatory power when all components were factored into the final modeling