Supersymmetry Breaking, Fermion Masses and a Small Extra Dimension

We present a supersymmetric model in which the observed fermion masses and mixings are generated by localizing the three generations of matter and the two Higgs fields at different locations in a compact extra dimension. Supersymmetry is broken by the shining method and the breaking is communicated to standard model fields via gaugino mediation. Quark masses, CKM mixing angles and the mu term are generated with all dimensionless couplings of O(1). All dimensionful parameters are of order the five-dimensional Planck scale except for the size of the extra dimension which is of order the GUT scale. The superpartner spectrum is highly predictive and is found to have a neutralino LSP over a wide range of parameter space. The resulting phenomenology and interesting extensions of the model are briefly discussed.Comment: Comments and References added, submitted to JHE

Glass Cages in the Dock?: Presenting the Defendant to the Jury

The architecture of the courtroom provides insights into the philosophy of justice espoused by the community—it embodies particular perspectives about the presumption of innocence, the dignity of the person, the right to effective representation, and more generally, the right to a fair trial. The physical position of the accused in a criminal trial, the subject of this Article, varies considerably between jurisdictions, from a privileged place at the defense table to a dock isolated from other courtroom participants. The legal issues associated with the place of the accused are particularly evident when the dock is enclosed in glass. This Article reviews the history of the dock, exploring why it was abolished in the U.S. but not elsewhere, and how the glass cage emerged in several countries to manage particularly unruly or dangerous defendants in the courtroom. The role of appeal and trial courts in resisting such moves is outlined, with U.S., European, and Australian courts contributing to an emerging consensus that finds highly visible forms of constraint to be prejudicial to the rights of the accused

Glass Cages in the Dock?: Presenting the Defendant to the Jury

The architecture of the courtroom provides insights into the philosophy of justice espoused by the community—it embodies particular perspectives about the presumption of innocence, the dignity of the person, the right to effective representation, and more generally, the right to a fair trial. The physical position of the accused in a criminal trial, the subject of this Article, varies considerably between jurisdictions, from a privileged place at the defense table to a dock isolated from other courtroom participants. The legal issues associated with the place of the accused are particularly evident when the dock is enclosed in glass. This Article reviews the history of the dock, exploring why it was abolished in the U.S. but not elsewhere, and how the glass cage emerged in several countries to manage particularly unruly or dangerous defendants in the courtroom. The role of appeal and trial courts in resisting such moves is outlined, with U.S., European, and Australian courts contributing to an emerging consensus that finds highly visible forms of constraint to be prejudicial to the rights of the accused

Rejuvenating Financial Penalties: Using the Tax System to Collect Fines

The current system for the imposition and collection of fines in Australia is significantly flawed. Fines are often inappropriately imposed or not imposed, inequitable, have high default rates and are expensive to enforce. This paper suggests an alternative scheme for the enforcement and collection of fines, a Fine Enforcement Collection Scheme (FECS). It is based on the principles underlying the Higher Education Contribution Scheme, which involves the proposition that fines may be paid depending upon an offender's future income. Though requiring a substantial re-casting of federal/state legal arrangements and an extension of the role of the Australian Taxation Office, the paper argues that such a scheme would increase the appropriate use of fines, be more equitable, improve collection rates and thus revenue to the imposing authorities. Concomitantly FECS has the high potential to enhance the credibility of the criminal justice system overall. If successful, this scheme could be expanded to help enforce a wider range of monetary sanctions.

Sensitivity of future collider facilities to WIMP pair production via effective operators and light mediators

We present extrapolations of the current mono-jet searches at the LHC to potential future hadron collider facilities: LHC14, as well as $pp$ colliders with $\sqrt{s}=33$ or 100 TeV. We consider both the effective operator approach as well as one example of a light mediating particle

Governance and policy challenges of implementing urban low-carbon transport initiatives.

Emissions from transport represent a quarter of Scotlands total. Action to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport has been criticized for being limited, poorly integrated with other areas of policy, and focused on narrow programmes. Several funding bodies at the European level provide funding for the development of pilot initiatives to reduce carbon and to promote knowledge exchange between partner cities. Cities where strategies have been successful consider transport as being a significant part of wider urban design and urban development, thus ensuring that the potential benefits are directly related to concerns of planning, housing and behavioural change. Through research into the experience of one local authority in a European project, this paper finds that governance, cultural, economic and policy barriers inhibit the successful implementation of low carbon transport initiatives. This paper concludes that, despite these challenges, there is still value for local authorities to engage in projects that fund pilot carbon reduction initiatives and promote knowledge exchange