Exotic Neutrino Interactions at the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory for cosmic rays provides a laboratory for studying fundamental interactions at energies well beyond those available at colliders. In addition to hadrons or photons, Auger is sensitive to ultra-high energy neutrinos in the cosmic radiation and models for new physics can be explored by observing neutrino interactions at center-of-mass energies beyond the TeV scale. By comparing the rate for quasi-horizontal, deeply penetrating air showers triggered by all types of neutrinos with the rate for slightly upgoing showers generated by Earth-skimming tau neutrinos, any deviation of the neutrino-nucleon cross-section from the Standard Model expectation can be constrained. We show that this can test models of low-scale quantum gravity (including processes such as Kaluza-Klein graviton exchange, microscopic black hole production and string resonances), as well as non-perturbative electroweak instanton mediated processes. Moreover, the observed ratios of neutrino flavors would severely constrain the possibility of neutrino decay.Comment: 32 pages (RevTeX); revised to show rates for both the cosmogenic and Waxman-Bahcall neutrino flux; to appear in Astroparticle Physic

A smart yoga mat system designed for visually impaired people

Globally, nearly 2.2 billion people are visually impaired, while 39 million are blind at present. Due to various factors, it is difficult for the blind to exercise. Though associations for blind people and disabled schools provide more possibilities for sports training for visually impaired people, these resources cannot reach everyone in need because of location and foundation limits. The project aims to make fitness more accessible for visually impaired people to help them keep healthy. Thus it could support their confidence and independence as they expected. Furthermore, society\u27s awareness of visually impaired people\u27s difficulties while exercising then, more studies could be built on the accessibility of fitness equipment for more feasible solutions in the near future. A smart yoga mat that used Somatosensory technology and the tactile response was designed to reach this aim. Qualitative interviews, Wizard of Oz, prototype testing, and other design methods were used to test the design\u27s usability