Effect of calcified seaweed application on grazing preference by dairy cows

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. An experiment was carried out to determine whether the application of calcified seaweed improved the preference of organic dairy cows for pasture. Two treatments were applied in May 2001; calcified seaweed applied at 625kg/ha (C+) or no application (C-). The number of cows grazing within individual plots was recorded in July and August 2001. A significantly higher number of cows were recorded in C+ plots than in C- plots. This effect could not be explained by changes in soil or herbage analysis. There may have been additional unknown effects of the C+ treatment on herbage palatability but the results may also have been influenced by external factors such as the location of water troughs

SUSY-Yukawa Sum Rule at the LHC

We propose the "supersymmetric (SUSY) Yukawa sum rule", a relationship between physical masses and mixing angles of the third-generation quarks and squarks. The sum rule follows directly from a relation between quark and squark couplings to the Higgs, enforced by SUSY. It is exactly this relation that ensures the cancellation of the one-loop quadratic divergence in the Higgs mass from the top sector. Testing the sum rule experimentally would thus provide a powerful consistency check on SUSY as the solution to the gauge hierarchy problem. While such a test will most likely have to await a future next-generation lepton collider, the LHC experiments may be able to make significant progress towards this goal. If some of the terms entering the sum rule are measured at the LHC, the sum rule can be used (within SUSY framework) to put interesting constraints on the other terms, such as the mixing angles among third-generation squarks. We outline how the required mass measurements could be performed, and estimate the accuracy that can be achieved at the LHC.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures (final version accepted for publication in PRD; extended discussion of Upsilon and Upsilon_prime

Enrollment of adolescents and young adults onto SWOG cancer research network clinical trials: A comparative analysis by treatment site and era.

BackgroundFew adolescents and young adults (AYAs, 15-39 years old) enroll onto cancer clinical trials, which hinders research otherwise having the potential to improve outcomes in this unique population. Prior studies have reported that AYAs are more likely to receive cancer care in community settings. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has led efforts to increase trial enrollment through its network of NCI-designated cancer centers (NCICC) combined with community outreach through its Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP; replaced by the NCI Community Oncology Research Program in 2014).MethodsUsing AYA proportional enrollment (the proportion of total enrollments who were AYAs) as the primary outcome, we examined enrollment of AYAs onto SWOG therapeutic trials at NCICC, CCOP, and non-NCICC/non-CCOP sites from 2004 to 2013 by type of site, study period (2004-08 vs 2009-13), and patient demographics.ResultsOverall, AYA proportional enrollment was 10.1%. AYA proportional enrollment decreased between 2004-2008 and 2009-2013 (13.1% vs 8.5%, P < .001), and was higher at NCICCs than at CCOPs and non-NCICC/non-CCOPs (14.1% vs 8.3% and 9.2%, respectively; P < .001). AYA proportional enrollment declined significantly at all three site types. Proportional enrollment of AYAs who were Black or Hispanic was significantly higher at NCICCs compared with CCOPs or non-NCICC/non-CCOPs (11.5% vs 8.8, P = .048 and 11.5% vs 8.6%, P = .03, respectively).ConclusionNot only did community sites enroll a lower proportion of AYAs onto cancer clinical trials, but AYA enrollment decreased in all study settings. Initiatives aimed at increasing AYA enrollment, particularly in the community setting with attention to minority status, are needed

Symmetries and Asymmetries of B -> K* mu+ mu- Decays in the Standard Model and Beyond

The rare decay B -> K* (-> K pi) mu+ mu- is regarded as one of the crucial channels for B physics as the polarization of the K* allows a precise angular reconstruction resulting in many observables that offer new important tests of the Standard Model and its extensions. These angular observables can be expressed in terms of CP-conserving and CP-violating quantities which we study in terms of the full form factors calculated from QCD sum rules on the light-cone, including QCD factorization corrections. We investigate all observables in the context of the Standard Model and various New Physics models, in particular the Littlest Higgs model with T-parity and various MSSM scenarios, identifying those observables with small to moderate dependence on hadronic quantities and large impact of New Physics. One important result of our studies is that new CP-violating phases will produce clean signals in CP-violating asymmetries. We also identify a number of correlations between various observables which will allow a clear distinction between different New Physics scenarios.Comment: 56 pages, 18 figures, 14 tables. v5: Missing factor in eqs. (3.31-32) and fig. 6 corrected. Minor misprints in eq. (2.10) and table A corrected. Conclusions unchange

The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History. Volume 4, Global America, 1915-2000

Review of: "The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History. Vol. 4: Global America, 1915-2000," by D. W. Meinig

Our Common Country: Family Farming, Culture, and Community in the Nineteenth-Century Midwest

Review of: Our Common Country: Family Farming, Culture, and Community in the Nineteenth-Century Midwest. Rugh, Susan Sessions

The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History. Volume 4, Global America, 1915-2000

Review of: "The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History. Vol. 4: Global America, 1915-2000," by D. W. Meinig