Precision Electroweak Data and the Mixed Radion-Higgs Sector of Warped Extra Dimensions

We derive the Lagrangian and Feynman rules up to bilinear scalar fields for the mixed Higgs-radion eigenstates interacting with Standard Model particles confined to a 3-brane in Randall-Sundrum warped geometry. We use the results to compute precision electroweak observables and compare theory predictions with experiment. We characterize the interesting regions of parameter space that simultaneously enable a very heavy Higgs mass and a very heavy radion mass, both masses being well above the putative Higgs boson mass limit in the Standard Model derived from the constraints of precision electroweak observables. For parameters consistent with the precision constraints the Higgs boson physical eigenstate is typically detectable, but its properties may be difficult to study at the Large Hadron Collider. In contrast, masses and couplings are allowed for the physical radion eigenstate that make it unobservable at the LHC. A Linear Collider will significantly improve our ability to study the Higgs eigenstate, and will typically allow detection of the radion eigenstate if it is within the machine's kinematical reach.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures; revisions: typo correction for Feynman rules and 1 reference adde

Change Blindness, Attention, and Driving Performance

Concern over older driver high traffic fatality rates has resulted in an effort to identify risk factors and to develop methods of assessment. This study examines two attention-related tasks, Useful Field of View (UFOV) and Change Blindness (CB), in relation to vision and cognitive test batteries and driving performance measures collected using a simulator and an instrumented vehicle. Eight older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and nine comparison subjects between 64 and 81 participated. Factor analysis results indicate that UFOV and CB relate to different factors. While UFOV relates to memory, decision-making, attention, and visual spatial ability, CB relates to vision and attention. The type of images used on a CB task influence how the task relates to driving performance measures. Researchers should be thoughtful when selecting images to include in CB tasks to maximize insight into real-world drivin

Differences in Simulated Car Following Behavior of Younger and Older Drivers

Older drivers are at risk for vehicle crashes due to impairments of visual processing and attention, placing these drivers at greater risk in driving tasks that require continuous attention to neighboring traffic, especially lead vehicles (LVs). We investigated car following behavior in 42 younger drivers (ages 18 to 44 years) and 58 older drivers (ages 65 to 86 years) in a driving simulator. The drivers were instructed to maintain two car lengths from a virtual LV. The LV varied its velocity according to a sum of three sine waves, making the velocity changes unpredictable to the drivers. A Fourier analysis was performed using the vehicle trajectory data to derive measures of coherence, gain, and delay as indices of car following behavior. These measures as well as headway distance were compared between the two groups. Older drivers were less able to match changes in the LV velocity indicated by lower coherence (0.76 v. 0.84, p=0.019) and larger gain (2.24 v. 1.74, p=0.031). However, these drivers followed further behind the LV than younger drivers, a potential compensatory strategy that may reduce collision risk for older drivers

Effects of Fatigue on Real-World Driving in Diseased and Control Participants

This study evaluated real world driver errors and sleepiness in 66 drivers with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and 34 matched controls (24 younger and 22 older). Driving errors and driver state were derived from analyses of video data from “black-box” event recorders. Sleep fragmentation data in OSA was derived from actigraphy for 15 days prior to beginning standard treatment (positive airway pressure, PAP) and 15 days after beginning PAP treatment. Prior to starting PAP, OSAs appeared sleepier than controls in general and particularly at intersections, while making safety errors following nights with high levels of fragmented sleep compared to matched controls. Adverse effects of sleep fragmentation during the pre-PAP phase were reduced post-PAP. Greater hours of PAP-use were associated with lower sleepiness and errors on the road. PAP-use was associated with a decrease in high sleep fragmented nights. Findings suggest reduction in acute sleepiness is unlikely to be the only mediating factor that explains the driving safety benefits of PAP in OSA

Effects of Environmental Factors on Naturalistic Driving in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Reduced visibility and other environmental factors can impair driver ability to respond to roadway hazards. We examined the effects of reduced visibility on naturalistic driving in 66 drivers, including 45 at-risk drivers with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and 21 controls. We analyzed three months of electronic data using “black box” recorder technology and assessed the extent to which driver speed, longitudinal acceleration, and lateral acceleration metrics depend on ambient visibility from web-based environmental data archives. We calculated summary driving metrics within 10-second intervals, and reduced these to within-subject means and tested for associations of interest. OSA drivers did not differ from controls with respect to electronic measures or visibility conditions in which they drove. On average, drivers drove slower when visibility was reduced. After controlling for speed, variations in lateral and longitudinal acceleration were positively associated with high-visibility conditions. These findings suggest that drivers exert greater vehicular control when visibility is limited, and that this association is not just due to slower speeds. Weaker relationships between visibility and driving measures in OSA suggest reduced adaptive strategies. Our methods provide a framework for analyzing the effects of other environmental factors on driving, and we provide an additional example using wind speed

Contextualizing Naturalistic Driving Data in a Rural State Among Drivers With and Without Obstructive Sleep Apnea

In naturalistic studies, Global Positioning System (GPS) data and date/time stamps can link driver exposure to specific environments (e.g., road types, speed limits, night driving, etc.), providing valuable context for analyzing critical events, such as crashes, near crashes, and breaches of accelerometer limits. In previous work, we showed how to automate this contextualization, using GPS data obtained at 1 Hz and merging this with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) databases maintained by the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT). Here we further demonstrate our methods by analyzing data from 80 drivers with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and 48 controls, and comparing the two groups with respect to several factors of interest. The majority of comparisons found no difference between groups, suggesting similar patterns of exposures to driving environments in OSA and control drivers. However, OSA drivers appeared to spend slightly more time on roads with annual traffic counts of 500-10,000 and less time driving on wider highways, during twilight, and on roads with 10,000-25,000 annual traffic counts

Gaugephobic Higgs Signals at the LHC

The Gaugephobic Higgs model provides an interpolation between three different models of electroweak symmetry breaking: Higgsless models, Randall-Sundrum models, and the Standard Model. At parameter points between the extremes, Standard Model Higgs signals are present at reduced rates, and Higgsless Kaluza-Klein excitations are present with shifted masses and couplings, as well as signals from exotic quarks necessary to protect the Zbb coupling. Using a new implementation of the model in SHERPA, we show the LHC signals which differentiate the generic Gaugephobic Higgs model from its limiting cases. These are all signals involving a Higgs coupling to a Kaluza-Klein gauge boson or quark. We identify the clean signal $p p \to W^(i) \to W H$ mediated by a Kaluza-Klein W, which can be present at large rates and is enhanced for even Kaluza-Klein numbers. Due to the very hard lepton coming from the W decay, this signature has little background, and provides a better discovery channel for the Higgs than any of the Standard Model modes, over its entire mass range. A Higgs radiated from new heavy quarks also has large rates, but is much less promising due to very high multiplicity final states.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Simulating the WFIRST coronagraph Integral Field Spectrograph

A primary goal of direct imaging techniques is to spectrally characterize the atmospheres of planets around other stars at extremely high contrast levels. To achieve this goal, coronagraphic instruments have favored integral field spectrographs (IFS) as the science cameras to disperse the entire search area at once and obtain spectra at each location, since the planet position is not known a priori. These spectrographs are useful against confusion from speckles and background objects, and can also help in the speckle subtraction and wavefront control stages of the coronagraphic observation. We present a software package, the Coronagraph and Rapid Imaging Spectrograph in Python (crispy) to simulate the IFS of the WFIRST Coronagraph Instrument (CGI). The software propagates input science cubes using spatially and spectrally resolved coronagraphic focal plane cubes, transforms them into IFS detector maps and ultimately reconstructs the spatio-spectral input scene as a 3D datacube. Simulated IFS cubes can be used to test data extraction techniques, refine sensitivity analyses and carry out design trade studies of the flight CGI-IFS instrument. crispy is a publicly available Python package and can be adapted to other IFS designs.Comment: 15 page

Mechanism of Repair of Acrolein- and Malondialdehyde-Derived Exocyclic Guanine Adducts by the α-Ketoglutarate/Fe(II) Dioxygenase AlkB

The structurally related exocyclic guanine adducts α-hydroxypropano-dG (α-OH-PdG), γ-hydroxypropano-dG (γ-OH-PdG), and M[subscript 1]dG are formed when DNA is exposed to the reactive aldehydes acrolein and malondialdehyde (MDA). These lesions are believed to form the basis for the observed cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of acrolein and MDA. In an effort to understand the enzymatic pathways and chemical mechanisms that are involved in the repair of acrolein- and MDA-induced DNA damage, we investigated the ability of the DNA repair enzyme AlkB, an α-ketoglutarate/Fe(II) dependent dioxygenase, to process α-OH-PdG, γ-OH-PdG, and M[subscript 1]dG in both single- and double-stranded DNA contexts. By monitoring the repair reactions using quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometry, it was established that AlkB can oxidatively dealkylate γ-OH-PdG most efficiently, followed by M[subscript 1]dG and α-OH-PdG. The AlkB repair mechanism involved multiple intermediates and complex, overlapping repair pathways. For example, the three exocyclic guanine adducts were shown to be in equilibrium with open-ring aldehydic forms, which were trapped using (pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine (PFBHA) or NaBH[subscript 4]. AlkB repaired the trapped open-ring form of γ-OH-PdG but not the trapped open-ring of α-OH-PdG. Taken together, this study provides a detailed mechanism by which three-carbon bridge exocyclic guanine adducts can be processed by AlkB and suggests an important role for the AlkB family of dioxygenases in protecting against the deleterious biological consequences of acrolein and MDA.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01 CA080024)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01 CA26731)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Center Grant P30 ES02109)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Training Grant T32 ES007020

Loss of high-level perceptual knowledge of object structure in DAT

Peer reviewe