Standard Model Higgs Searches at the Tevatron

We present results from the search for a standard model Higgs boson using data corresponding up to 10 fb-1 of proton-antiproton collision data produced by the Fermilab Tevatron at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The data were recorded by the CDF and D0 Detectors between March 2001 and September of 2011. A broad excess is observed between 105 < mH < 145 GeV/c2 with a global significance of 2.2 standard deviations relative to the background-only hypothesis.Comment: 5 pages, contributed to the Proceedings of the XX International Workshop on Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects, March 2012, Bonn, German

Online Scheduling on Identical Machines Using SRPT

Due to its optimality on a single machine for the problem of minimizing average flow time, Shortest-Remaining-Processing-Time (SRPT) appears to be the most natural algorithm to consider for the problem of minimizing average flow time on multiple identical machines. It is known that SRPT achieves the best possible competitive ratio on multiple machines up to a constant factor. Using resource augmentation, SRPT is known to achieve total flow time at most that of the optimal solution when given machines of speed $2- 1/m$. Further, it is known that SRPT's competitive ratio improves as the speed increases; SRPT is $s$-speed $1/s$-competitive when $s \geq 2 - 1/m$. However, a gap has persisted in our understanding of SRPT. Before this work, we did not know the performance of SRPT when given machines of speed 1+\eps for any 0 < \eps < 1 - 1/m. We answer the question in this thesis. We show that SRPT is scalable on $m$ identical machines. That is, we show SRPT is (1+\eps)-speed O(1/\eps)-competitive for any \eps > 0. We also show that SRPT is (1+\eps)-speed O(1/\eps^2)-competitive for the objective of minimizing the $l_k$ norms of flow time on $m$ identical machines. Both of our results rely on new potential functions that capture the structure of SRPT. Our results, combined with previous work, show that SRPT is the best possible online algorithm in essentially every aspect when migration is permissible

Financial Burden of Medical Spending by State and the Implications of the 2014 Medicaid Expansions

This study is the first to offer a detailed look at medical spending burden levels, defined as total family medical out-of-pocket spending as a proportion of income, for each state. It further investigates which states have greater shares of individuals with high burden levels and no Medicaid coverage, but would be Medicaid eligible under the 2014 rules of the Affordable Care Act should their state choose to participate in the expansion. This work suggests which states have the largest populations likely to benefit, in terms of lowering medical spending burden, from participating in the 2014 adult Medicaid expansions

Geological structure of the forearc basin in central Hawke’s Bay, eastern North Island

Central Hawke’s Bay lies within an extensive forearc basin in eastern North Island that developed during the Late Miocene to Pleistocene. The onshore structural elements of Hawke’s Bay can be classified into four structural domains, each reflecting differing styles and scales of deformation. These domains are from west to east, the axial range domain, the range front con¬tractional domain, the central forearc basin domain, and the eastern contractional domain. Some degree of the oblique-interaction of the Australia and Pacific plates on the subduction thrust is inferred to be partitioned across the four structural domains and to be expressed dominantly as oblique-(dextral) slip on faults bordering the axial ranges, and as short¬ening on reverse faults and folds in more eastern parts of the forearc. The axial range domain involves the eastern parts of the North Island axial ranges where there is marked oblique-slip displacement on major faults. Some dextral offest is accommodated in the range front contractional domain, although dip-slip displacement is more significant. The central forearc basin domain is comparatively undeformed with only minor reverse faulting and (fault-force driven) folding. By comparison, the ad¬jacent eastern contractional domain, which comprises an accretionary wedge, is characterised by imbricate reverse and thrust faulting and associated folding. A small degree of dextral-slip is also accommodated in this domain. The uppermost parts of the inboard margin of the accretionary wedge, particularly the part onshore, is currently undergoing gravitationally-driven collapse expressed as deep-seated landslides and normal faulting. Many folds in the basin are fault-cored, several of which have been targeted in recent years by petroleum exploration companies (e.g. Hukarere-, Whakatu-and Kereru-). Most deformation of the forearc basin fill in central Hawke’s Bay is post early Nukumaruan (2.4 Ma) and much of this has occurred since the early Pleistocene (.8 Ma). Dextral-slip on Mohaka and Ruahine Faults since the Early Pliocene is likely to be less than 0 km. Significant unconformities in the basin fill reflect early phases of development of oblique-slip faults in the axial ranges. New dextral oblique-slip faults are developing in the basin fill to the east of the main oblique-slip faults bordering the ranges