Searches for beyond Standard Model Higgs bosons at CMS

A search for neutral Higgs bosons in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) decaying to a pair of b quarks or a pair of tau leptons, using events recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011 and 2012 at the centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and 8 TeV respectively, is presented. The result is also presented for a search for the charged Higgs boson that can be produced in the top quark decay with subsequent decay of H+ in tau and neutrino. Results are also reported from a search for non-standard-model Higgs boson decays to pairs of new light bosons, each of which decays into the di-muon final state.Comment: Submitted to the proceedings of "The European Physical Society Conference on High Energy Physics - EPS-HEP2013, 18-24 July 2013,Stockholm, Sweden

Measurement of the Z boson plus two b-jets cross section in CMS with 100 pb-1

The cross section for production of Z bosons with two associated b-jets, and Z decaying to leptons, can be measured at the LHC with about 100 pb-1 of data. We use simulated data to study possible strategies for an early measurement of this process with the CMS detector. The rate and kinematic properties of this final state needs to be well understood because it constitutes a large fraction of the total backgrounds to several of the Higgs discovery channels at the LHC.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to the proceedings of Physics at LHC 2008, Split, Croati

Globalisation and Outsourcing: Confronting New Human Resource Challenges in India’s Business Process Outsourcing Industry

In this article, we argue that the rapid growth of the outsourcing industry has resulted in both high turnover and labour shortages and at the same time provided employment opportunities to a new group of employees: young upwardly mobile college graduates. We argue that this particular demographic profile is prone to high turnover and presents new managerial challenges. We then examine the variety of recruitment and retention strategies that companies in the business process outsourcing industry are experimenting with and show that many novel HR strategies are being crafted to address the needs of this young middle-class workforce. We also examine macro efforts by state and central governments and the industry association to help resolve some of these problems

The development of a new Malaysian Skills Qualification Framework (MSQF) in the context of National Dual Training System (NDTS)

The Malaysian Skills Qualification Framework (MSQF) was formulated to classify skilled qualification that indicates the level of capabilities on competency descriptors. MSQF currently enforces competence-based training approach in skills training which is in line with National Occupational Skills Standard (NOSS). With the advent of National Dual Training System (NDTS), the existing MSQF may need to be revamped due to new requirements resulting from new orientation toward work process. Thus, the purpose of the study was to analyze the effectiveness of the existing MSQF for MSC shop-floor automotive technicians at level 3 to qualify as knowledge workers (K-workers). The study adopted the interpretive qualitative research design which was premised on the phenomenological method by using interview and observation. For purpose of data collection, participants selected for this study were those who have more than five years of experience in automotive industry and understand NOSS-based training and NDTS. The data analysis forms the themes and the categories that are useful to develop a new framework to show the relationships that exist among the categories under study. This study found that NOSS standards qualify students with specialized skills which restricts them in carrying out other duties and to understand the whole work process were facing challenges especially in fulfilling the industry needs due to technological and work organization changes. Secondly, NDTS based on the work process concept builds upon the business process orientation of new industry and supported by the whole work processes rather than specific or functional units only. Thirdly, based on the research data the new MSQF for MSC shop-floor automotive technicians at level 3 needs to be characterized in line with the two descriptors that are professional competence (knowledge and skills) and personal competence (social skills and autonomy). It is recommended that the new MSQF must be put in place in order to qualify appropriate K-workers for the automotive industry in Malaysia

Abundance evolution of intermediate mass elements (C to Zn) in the Milky Way halo and disk

We present a comprehensive study of the evolution of the abundances of intermediate mass elements, from C to Zn, in the Milky Way halo and in the local disk. We use a consistent model to describe the evolution of those two galactic subsystems. The halo and the disk are assumed to evolve independently, both starting with gas of primordial composition, and in different ways: strong outflow is assumed to take place during the $\sim$1 Gyr of the halo formation, while the disk is built by slowly infalling gas. This description of the halo+disk evolution can correctly account for the main observational constraints (at least in the framework of simple models of galactic chemical evolution). We utilise then metallicity dependant yields to study the evolution of all elements from C and Zn. Comparing our results to an extensive body of observational data (including very recent ones), we are able to make a critical analysis of the successes and shortcomings of current yields of massive stars. Finally, we discuss qualitatively some possible ways to interpret the recent data on oxygen vs iron, which suggest that oxygen behaves differently from the other alpha-elements.Comment: 22 pages (AA style), 10 figures, Astronomy and Astrophysics, in pres

Polarimetric studies of carbon stars at high Galactic latitude

Very little is known about the polarimetric properties of CH stars and carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars, although many of these objects have been studied in detail both photometrically and spectroscopically. We aim to derive polarimetric properties for a large sample of CEMP stars and CH stars to fill this gap. Multiband polarimetric observations were conducted in the first run for a sample of twenty-nine objects that include twenty-two CEMP and CH stars and seven polarization standards. Estimates of polarization were obtained using standard procedures of polarization calculation. Five objects in our sample do not show any significant polarization over the different colours of BVRI. For the rest of the objects the derived percentage polarization estimates are less than or equal to 1%, and they are found to exhibit random behaviour with respect to the inverse of the effective wavelength of observations. Polarization also does not seem to have any correlation with the effective temperatures of the stars. Our polarimetric estimates indicate there are circumstellar envelopes around these stars that are spherically symmetric or envelopes with little or no dust. In the plane of differential polarization, defined as the difference between the maximum and the minimum polarizations within the BVRI-bands, versus their visual magnitude, the stars appear to be confined to a narrow band. The implication of this trend for understanding the nature of the circumstellar environment remains to be determined and requires detailed modelling.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic