Higgs boson interactions in supersymmetric theories with large tan beta

We show that radiative corrections to the Higgs potential in supersymmetric theories with large tan beta generically lead to large differences in the light Higgs boson decay branching fractions compared to those of the standard model Higgs boson. In contrast, the light Higgs boson production rates are largely unaffected. We identify W h associated production followed by Higgs boson decays to photons or to leptons via W W* as potential experimental probes of these theories.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Building resilience of staff in care homes: preliminary findings of an exploratory study.

Careers in the care home sector have seen innumerable challenges, along with sustaining and growing resilience in the workforce. The aim of this study was to understand the experiences of resilience for care home staff working in one health board area in Scotland. In this exploratory study, five care homes with scores of 6 (1 being the lowest quality, 6 being excellent) within any category available from the Care Inspectorate reports over the previous 12 months were selected and staff members were invited to participate in interviews. A total of four staff members from four care homes agreed to participate. Through thematic analysis, three main themes were identified: emotional factors enhancing resilience in staff within care homes; the value of community and the care home family; and encouragement and meaningful interactions from and with others. Laughter and happiness for both staff and residents were highlighted and resilience was seen not only at an individual level, but was also attributed to effective team working

The Same As His Faither Did Before Him

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/4767/thumbnail.jp

‘Free text is essentially the enemy of what we’re trying to achieve’: the framing of a national vision for delivering digital police contact

Police organisations in England and Wales, as in many other contexts, are increasingly shifting crime reporting and other public-facing contact online. In this paper we explore the beliefs, motivations, and objectives of those tasked with ‘delivering’ the ‘vision’ of digital police contact at the strategic national level. We use Goffman’s concept of frames – the set of expectations an actor brings to a situation or process – to understand how participants enacted this 'channel shift’ (Wells et al., 2023), the ends they were seeking to meet, and how different interests came to be designed-in to the contact architecture. We suggest that the primary frame centred around notions of efficiency and demand management. Running alongside this is a secondary frame of customer service, where it is assumed that the public also wish for the efficient delivery of this technologically mediated service. This, we suggest, is likely to be only a partial reflection of what people want when contacting police; but the framing of 'contact’ as a separate deliverable by those delivering this agenda serves to occlude or evade this point. Technology, we argue, imprints itself on the context by appearing to offer a convenient solution to problems of public wants and police needs

‘Channel Shift’:technologically-mediated policing and procedural justice

In recent years, police forces in the United Kingdom have introduced various technologies that alter the methods by which they interact with the public. In a parallel development, many forces have also begun to embrace the concept of procedural justice as a method through which to secure legitimacy and (in turn) public compliance and cooperation. What has not received sufficient attention, within policing or academia, is the extent to which these two trends are compatible, with the procedural justice literature still predicated on an assumption that police–public ‘contacts’ or ‘encounters’ are in-person. The effect of technologically mediating police–public contacts on ‘policing by consent’, is therefore unknown. In this article, we focus specifically on the possible implications of the Single Online Home (SOH) (a portal through which the public can report crime, get updates on cases, give feedback and pay fines, among other things, which is currently being rolled out across forces), considering ‘interactions’ between police and public where there is no physical co-presence. Noting the unique context that is policing, we draw on the limited existing research on procedural justice encounters in technologically mediated contexts to explore whether procedural justice theory is ‘future-proof’ for a policing context increasingly reliant on such encounters. We conclude that, through empirical research, we must update our conceptual understanding of what ‘contact’ can mean, and accept that current developments may in fact be transforming relationships rather than simply facilitating existing ones

Nanosat Technology And Managed Risk; An Update Of The CYGNSS Microsatellite Constellation Mission Development

Existing and forecasted budget constraints continue to drive innovative solutions for space-based mission applications. NASA’s Earth science mission, the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) was selected as part of NASA\u27s Earth Venture program with a total mission cost cap (excluding launch vehicle) of $103M. Performing valuable science at low cost is only possible given technology innovation and a development risk posture higher than typically accepted for NASA missions. CYGNSS is being designed to address present tropical cyclone intensity forecasting deficiencies. These deficiencies are thought to be the root cause for essentially no improvement in the accuracy of the storm’s intensity prediction (Classification and Category levels) since 1990 while tropical storm track forecasts have improved in accuracy by ~50%. The mission will combine the all-weather performance of GNSS bi-static ocean surface scatterometry with the sampling properties of a satellite constellation to provide science measurements never before available to the tropical cyclone operational and research communities. The mission cost cap dictates that the CYGNSS flight segment of 8 Observatories, each carrying a 4-channel GPS-based scatterometer, all be launched on a single launch vehicle. The mission will demonstrate how recent developments in nano- and micro-satellite technology integration, including recent developments in star trackers and reaction wheels, when combined with a managed risk approach, can be applied as cost effective solutions to fill capability voids of large-scale observatories. CYGNSS will also demonstrate low cost science mission operations, how to safely deploy a constellation from a single launch vehicle without collision, and a low-cost method for constellation configuration management. The CYGNSS SmallSat 2014 paper will provide an update of the mission system development status, an overview of how a synergistic approach between flight and ground segments enables a cost effective science mission solution, and a description of our approach to constellation configuration control

‘Channel shift’: Technologically mediated policing and procedural justice

In recent years, police forces in the United Kingdom have introduced various technologies that alter the methods by which they interact with the public. In a parallel development, many forces have also begun to embrace the concept of procedural justice as a method through which to secure legitimacy and (in turn) public compliance and cooperation. What has not received sufficient attention, within policing or academia, is the extent to which these two trends are compatible, with the procedural justice literature still predicated on an assumption that police–public ‘contacts’ or ‘encounters’ are in-person. The effect of technologically mediating police–public contacts on ‘policing by consent’, is therefore unknown. In this article, we focus specifically on the possible implications of the Single Online Home (SOH) (a portal through which the public can report crime, get updates on cases, give feedback and pay fines, among other things, which is currently being rolled out across forces), considering ‘interactions’ between police and public where there is no physical co-presence. Noting the unique context that is policing, we draw on the limited existing research on procedural justice encounters in technologically mediated contexts to explore whether procedural justice theory is ‘future-proof’ for a policing context increasingly reliant on such encounters. We conclude that, through empirical research, we must update our conceptual understanding of what ‘contact’ can mean, and accept that current developments may in fact be transforming relationships rather than simply facilitating existing ones

Multivitamins, Individual Vitamin and Mineral Supplements, and Risk of Diabetes Among Older U.S. Adults

OBJECTIVE: Understanding the relationship between multivitamin use and diabetes risk is important given the wide use of multivitamin supplements among U.S. adults. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We prospectively examined supplemental use of multivitamins and individual vitamins and minerals assessed in 1995–1996 in relation to self-reported diabetes diagnosed after 2000 among 232,007 participants in the National Institutes of Health–American Association of Retired Persons Diet and Health Study. Multivitamin use was assessed by a food-frequency questionnaire at baseline. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs were calculated by logistic regression models, adjusted for potential confounders. In total, 14,130 cases of diabetes diagnosed after 2000 were included in the analysis. RESULTS: Frequent use of any multivitamins was not associated with risk of diabetes after adjustment for potential confounders and uses of individual supplements. Compared with nonusers of any multivitamins, the multivariate ORs among users were 1.07 (95% CI 0.94–1.21) for taking vitamins less than once per week, 0.97 (0.88–1.06) for one to three times per week, 0.92 (0.84–1.00) for four to six times per week, and 1.02 (0.98–1.06) for seven or more times per week (P for trend = 0.64). Significantly lower risk of diabetes was associated with the use of vitamin C or calcium supplements. The multivariate ORs comparing daily users with nonusers were 0.91 (0.86–0.97) for vitamin C supplements and 0.85 (0.80–0.90) for calcium supplements. Use of vitamin E or other individual vitamin and mineral supplements were not associated with diabetes risk. CONCLUSIONS: In this large cohort of U.S. older adults, multivitamin use was not associated with diabetes risk. The findings of lower diabetes risk among frequent users of vitamin C or calcium supplements warrant further evaluations

Fibril elongation mechanisms of HET-s prion-forming domain: Topological evidence for growth polarity

The prion-forming C-terminal domain of the fungal prion HET-s forms infectious amyloid fibrils at physiological pH. The conformational switch from the non-prion soluble form to the prion fibrillar form is believed to have a functional role, since HET-s in its prion form participates in a recognition process of different fungal strains. Based on the knowledge of the high-resolution structure of HET-s(218-289) (the prion forming-domain) in its fibrillar form, we here present a numerical simulation of the fibril growth process which emphasizes the role of the topological properties of the fibrillar structure. An accurate thermodynamic analysis of the way an intervening HET-s chain is recruited to the tip of the growing fibril suggests that elongation proceeds through a dock and lock mechanism. First, the chain docks onto the fibril by forming the longest $\beta$-strands. Then, the re-arrangement in the fibrillar form of all the rest of molecule takes place. Interestingly, we predict also that one side of the HET-s fibril is more suitable for substaining its growth with respect to the other. The resulting strong polarity of fibril growth is a consequence of the complex topology of HET-s fibrillar structure, since the central loop of the intervening chain plays a crucially different role in favouring or not the attachment of the C-terminus tail to the fibril, depending on the growth side.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure