Using a Primordial Gravitational Wave Background to Illuminate New Physics

A primordial spectrum of gravitational waves serves as a backlight to the relativistic degrees of freedom of the cosmological fluid. Any change in the particle physics content, due to a change of phase or freeze-out of a species, will leave a characteristic imprint on an otherwise featureless primordial spectrum of gravitational waves and indicate its early-Universe provenance. We show that a gravitational wave detector such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna would be sensitive to physics near 100 TeV in the presence of a sufficiently strong primordial spectrum. Such a detection could complement searches at newly proposed 100 km circumference accelerators such as the Future Circular Collider at CERN and the Super Proton-Proton Collider in China, thereby providing insight into a host of beyond Standard Model issues, including the hierarchy problem, dark matter, and baryogenesis.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; added reference

Industrial Engineering and the Law

BOOM BACKLASH made recent headlines in the May 26th issue of The Wall Street Journal. The sub-heading, Efficiency Falls and Pay Training Costs Increase as Labor Supply Shrinks delves into the heart of industrial engineering. This represents, also, an expansive and enigmatic economic problem which is now confronting employers in northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. It is the job of the industrial engineer to deal with the resulting problems of decreased productivity, contract erosion, and unbalanced labor relations

Clean Water for Less Integrated Planning Reduces the Cost of Meeting Water Quality Goals in New Hampshire

Rising populations and increased development in New Hampshire coastal communities have led to a decline in water quality in the Great Bay Estuary. Responding effectively and affordably to new federal permit requirements for treating and discharging stormwater and wastewater will require innovative solutions from communities in the area. The Water Integration for Squamscott-Exeter (WISE) project developed an integrated planning framework through which the coastal communities of Exeter, Stratham, and Newfields could significantly reduce the cost of meeting permit requirements. In this brief, authors Alison Watts, Robert Roseen, Paul Stacey, Renee Bourdeau, and Theresa Walker report that integrated planning could save these communities over $100 million (in fifty-year lifecycle costs) by prioritizing high-impact, low-cost mitigation strategies across permit type and town boundaries. The project, which has received an Environmental Merit award from Environment Protection Agency, also found that attainment of water quality standards in the Exeter–Squamscott River will not be possible without substantial cooperation and investment from upstream communities, which are not currently subject to EPA permit requirements. Collaboration among communities in planning and implementing projects to meet clean water regulations can have significant cost and effectiveness benefits

Guidelines for Handling Domestic Violence Cases in Community Mental Health Centers

Community mental health centers are becoming increasingly involved in the delivery of services to victims and perpetrators of domestic violence. To help centers plan a domestic violence program and address the risk of liability in treating clients who may be dangerous, the authors suggest principles to guide clinical decisions, standards for service delivery, and standards for staff development

Rotavirus vaccine and diarrhea mortality: quantifying regional variation in effect size

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diarrhea mortality remains a leading cause of child death and rotavirus vaccine an effective tool for preventing severe rotavirus diarrhea. New data suggest vaccine efficacy may vary by region.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We reviewed published vaccine efficacy trials to estimate a regional-specific effect of vaccine efficacy on severe rotavirus diarrhea and hospitalizations. We assessed the quality of evidence using a standard protocol and conducted meta-analyses where more than 1 data point was available.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Rotavirus vaccine prevented severe rotavirus episodes in all regions; 81% of episodes in Latin America, 42.7% of episodes in high-mortality Asia, 50% of episodes in sub-Saharan Africa, 88% of episodes low-mortality Asia and North Africa, and 91% of episodes in developed countries. The effect sizes observed for preventing severe rotavirus diarrhea will be used in <it>LiST</it> as the effect size for rotavirus vaccine on rotavirus-specific diarrhea mortality.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Vaccine trials have not measured the effect of vaccine on diarrhea mortality. The overall quality of the evidence and consistency observed across studies suggests that estimating mortality based on a severe morbidity reduction is highly plausible.</p

The economic cost of weeds in dryland cotton production systems of Australia

Economic losses and costs associated with weeds in dryland cotton production are important, both for growers and for industry bodies when making decisions about research priorities and research and development funding. A survey was conducted to provide information on weed types, control strategies and estimated costs to growers. We used information from the survey to estimate conventional financial losses due to weeds, and as a basis for evaluating aggregate economic (society) impacts. An economic surplus model was used to estimate the aggregate societal impact of weeds for three production regions in north-eastern Australia. The annual economic costs associated with weeds were estimated to be $41 million, and the on-farm financial costs were$25 million. While these are past (sunk) costs, and based on a total removal of weeds, the approach outlined here can be used to begin evaluating likely future returns from technologies or management improvements for different agricultural problems.Weeds, Dryland Cotton, and Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Aerodynamic Characteristics at Subsonic and Supersonic Mach Numbers of a Thin Triangular Wing of Aspect Ratio 2 II : Maximum Thickness at Midchord

The lift, drag, and pitching-moment characteristics of a triangular wing, having an aspect ratio of 2 and a symmetrical double-wedge profile of 5-percent-chord maximum thickness at midchord, have been evaluated from wind-tunnel tests at Mach numbers from 0.50 to 0.975 and from 1.09 to 1.49 and at Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.67 to 0.85 million. The lift, drag, and pitching-moment coefficients of the triangular wing with a leading-edge sweepback of approximately 63 degrees did not exhibit the irregular variations with Mach number at high subsonic and low supersonic Mach numbers that are characteristic of unswept wings. The lift-curve slope increased steadily with Mach number below unity and declined slowly beyond the Mach number of 1.13. A substantial rise in the minimum drag coefficient occurred between Mach numbers of 0.95 and 1.20 with an associated reduction in the maximum lift-drag ratio. The aerodynamic center shifted rearward toward the centroid of area of the wing with increasing Mach number below 0.975; whereas above 1.09 it coincided with the centroid

A Training Program for Counselors of the Deaf: Merging Communication Skills

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