Signatures of Earth-scattering in the direct detection of Dark Matter

Direct detection experiments search for the interactions of Dark Matter (DM) particles with nuclei in terrestrial detectors. But if these interactions are sufficiently strong, DM particles may scatter in the Earth, affecting their distribution in the lab. We present a new analytic calculation of this `Earth-scattering' effect in the regime where DM particles scatter at most once before reaching the detector. We perform the calculation self-consistently, taking into account not only those particles which are scattered away from the detector, but also those particles which are deflected towards the detector. Taking into account a realistic model of the Earth and allowing for a range of DM-nucleon interactions, we present the EarthShadow code, which we make publicly available, for calculating the DM velocity distribution after Earth-scattering. Focusing on low-mass DM, we find that Earth-scattering reduces the direct detection rate at certain detector locations while increasing the rate in others. The Earth's rotation induces a daily modulation in the rate, which we find to be highly sensitive to the detector latitude and to the form of the DM-nucleon interaction. These distinctive signatures would allow us to unambiguously detect DM and perhaps even identify its interactions in regions of the parameter space within the reach of current and future experiments.Comment: 27 pages + appendices, 9 figures. Code (and animations) available at https://github.com/bradkav/EarthShadow (Astrophysics Source Code Library, record ascl:1611.012). v2: added references, matches version published in JCA

Feminist poet kicks off Lecture Series

The Distinguished Lecture Series began the year Tuesday night when 330 packed into 101 English/Math to hear feminist poet Adrienne Rich

Potential Alternative Revenue Sources for Municipal Infrastructure Maintenance – A Case Study: County of Peterborough Transportation Infrastructure

This paper examines whether the funding system for local infrastructure is adequate to ensure a sustainable, well-maintained transportation network and if there is a single, more effective means of funding local infrastructure maintenance based on a case study of the County of Peterborough. The findings reveal that the current funding system for local infrastructure maintenance is inadequate to ensure a sustainable, well-maintained transportation network and alternative revenue sources include the federal GST, the provincial PST, the gas tax, income tax, subsidies and transfers, infrastructure maintenance funding programs, and user fees

Disruptive Strategies for Removing Drug Discovery Bottlenecks

Drug Discovery is shifting focus from the industry to outside partners and in the process creating new bottlenecks, suggesting the need for a more disruptive overhaul. Technologies like high throughput screening (HTS) have moved to a larger number of academic and institutional laboratories in the US, with little apparent coordination or consideration of the outputs and creating a translational gap. While there have been collaborative public private partnerships in Europe to share pharmaceutical data, the USA has lagged behind. Sharing precompetitive computational models may be the next frontier to provide more confidence in the quality of the leads produced and attract investment. We suggest there needs to be an awareness of what research is going on in the screening centers, more collaboration and coordination. These efforts will shift the focus to finding the best researchers to fund and require a rethink of how to reward their collaborative efforts

Consistency issues in partially bound dynamically composed systems

Dynamically composed systems are able to incorporate new components as they execute. Therefore, configurations of these systems are not fully elaborated until at least the time that they are executed, and they are perhaps never fully elaborated. Such incomplete configurations are termed partially bound configurations. Although partially bound, it is still important to be able to analyse these configurations to ascertain whether they meet certain assumptions about their composition. We are endeavouring to provide such support for the construction of dynamically composed systems through the application of configuration management concepts. One way in which these concepts can be applied in this domain is to explicitly state such assumptions and hence be able to validate partially bound configurations against these assumptions; in this way, inconsistencies can be reported as soon as they arise. This paper explores some of the issues involved in providing this kind of consistency mechanism for dynamically composed systems. In particular, the paper discusses consistency issues which arise in the context of systems where the generic structure of the system configuration is known, but the decision about which particular components comprise the configuration is deferred until execution

A National Portrait of Domestic Violence Courts

A growing number of criminal courts nationwide handle domestic violence cases on separate calendars, termed domestic violence courts. There are now 208 confirmed domestic violence courts across the U.S. (Center for Court Innovation 2009). More than 150 similar projects have been established internationally. Some domestic violence courts emerged in the context of the broader "problem-solving court" movement and share characteristics with other specialized courts, such as separate dockets and specially trained judges. However, the origins of domestic violence courts are also distinct, growing out of the increased attention afforded domestic violence matters by the justice system over the past 30 years. With funding from the National Institute of Justice, this study explores how criminal domestic violence courts have evolved, their rationale, and how their operations vary across the U.S. This study does not test whether domestic violence courts reduce recidivism, protect victims, or achieve other specific effects -- although we provide a thorough literature review on these points. Rather, our aim is to present a comprehensive national portrait of the field as it exists today, laying the groundwork for future information exchange and research

Impact Ionization and Hot-Electron Injection Derived Consistently from Boltzmann Transport

We develop a quantitative model of the impact-ionizationand hot-electron–injection processes in MOS devices from first principles. We begin by modeling hot-electron transport in the drain-to-channel depletion region using the spatially varying Boltzmann transport equation, and we analytically find a self consistent distribution function in a two step process. From the electron distribution function, we calculate the probabilities of impact ionization and hot-electron injection as functions of channel current, drain voltage, and floating-gate voltage. We compare our analytical model results to measurements in long-channel devices. The model simultaneously fits both the hot-electron- injection and impact-ionization data. These analytical results yield an energydependent impact-ionization collision rate that is consistent with numerically calculated collision rates reported in the literature

Privacy matters:issues within mechatronics

As mechatronic devices and components become increasingly integrated with and within wider systems concepts such as Cyber-Physical Systems and the Internet of Things, designer engineers are faced with new sets of challenges in areas such as privacy. The paper looks at the current, and potential future, of privacy legislation, regulations and standards and considers how these are likely to impact on the way in which mechatronics is perceived and viewed. The emphasis is not therefore on technical issues, though these are brought into consideration where relevant, but on the soft, or human centred, issues associated with achieving user privacy