houck2040/artisci huggingface dataset:
when texas a&m university physicist david toback was elected eight years ago as co-spokesperson and overall physics coordinator for the cdf collaboration at the us department of energys fermi national accelerator laboratory (fermilab) he had one primary goal: to help the groups 400-person active author list publish the collaborations important legacy papers and final results although the collider detector at fermilab experiment representing 54 institutions across 23 countries stopped collecting new data three years before toback assumed his leadership role on june 1 2014 he says its impact lives on in its analysis none bigger than that which graces the cover of the current issue of science announcing the most precise measurement to date of the mass of the w boson one of natures force-carrying particles responsible for the nuclear processes that make the sun shine and particles decay using high-energy particle collisions produced by the tevatron collider at fermilab the cdf collaboration collected huge amounts of data containing w bosons from 1985 to 2011 following 10 years of careful analysis and scrutiny of that data cdf-affiliated scientists led by duke universitys ashutosh v kotwal and the university of oxfords chris hays have now determined the particles mass with a precision of 001% twice as precise as the previous best measurement the achievement corresponds to measuring the weight of an 800-pound gorilla to within 15 ounces the new precision measurement allows scientists to test the standard model of particle physics the theoretical framework that describes nature at its most fundamental level the result: the new mass value shows significant tension with the value scientists expect to obtain using experimental and theoretical inputs in the context of the standard model the standard model is one of the crowning achievements in human history toback said it predicted the existence of the w and z bosons as well as the higgs boson all of which have been discovered but it goes way beyond that in that it makes remarkably precise predictions for what the mass of the w boson should be however weve always known the standard model isnt complete it doesnt explain gravity or dark matter something has to be missing therefore weve been searching forcracks in the standard model for decades to provide a clue to point the way this measurement which represents more than a decade of concerted effort may be one of the most highly scrutinized in cdf history
toback a high-energy physics expert and veteran researcher in several related international collaborations has been a faculty member in the texas a&m department of physics and astronomy since 2000 where he is the thaman professor for undergraduate teaching excellence and a member of the george p and cynthia woods mitchell institute for fundamental physics and astronomy he began working with the collider detector at fermilab collaboration in 1991 as a graduate student at the university of chicago and has served as co-convener of cdfs top + beyond the standard model group while also guiding the supersymmetry group in 2015 he was elected as a fellow of the american physical society on the basis of his cdf experiment leadership and pioneering work on related searches for new particles toback describes the cdf collaborations latest result is an important contribution to testing the accuracy of the standard model which may need to be improved or extended in the event the measurement is confirmed its now up to the theoretical physics community and other experiments to follow up on this and shed light on this mystery he added if the difference between the experimental and expected value is due to some kind of new particle or subatomic interaction which is one of the possibilities theres a good chance its something that could be discovered in future experiments fermilabs tevatron and cerns large hadron collider (lhc) are the past and current record holders respectively for the most powerful particle colliders on earth after 26 years of colliding particles the tevatron shut down on september 29 2011 with the completion of the lhc however because it observed collisions between protons and antiprotons via its two detectors the three-story 6 000-ton cdf along with its companion dzero physicists widely agree the tevatron produced groundbreaking fundamental results few more intriguing than this one deviations from the standard model are extremely rare said grigory v rogachev professor and head of texas a&m physics and astronomy there may be just a single credible one for instance a magnetic moment of a muon but even that is highly suspect due to difficulties in theoretical analysis it appears that deviation of w boson mass from the standard model prediction may become a central piece in particle physics for years to come this is certainly a very challenging and rewarding measurement added bhaskar dutta texas a&m theoretical physicist and managing director of the mitchell institute it opens up the floor for many new ideas
the cdf w boson result was honored as one of the best and biggest physics breakthroughs of 2022 by multiple outlets including live science cosmos magazine and npr according to the fermilab office of communications news of the groundbreaking finding as initially reported in science garnered 830 media mentions during the week of april 6-11 2022 reaching a potential audience in excess of 16 billion
two respected scientists and accomplished researchers will visit the texas a&m university campus this week to present their views on faith science and society as part of the universitys 19th annual trotter endowed lecture series dr denis r alexander founding director emeritus of the faraday institute for science and religion at cambridge university and dr katepalli sreenivasan university professor and eugene kleiner professor for innovation in mechanical engineering at new york university will deliver a joint public lecture wednesday apr 6 at 7 pm in rudder theatre no tickets or rsvps are required for the presentation which will feature a pre-recorded talk from alexander and an in-person appearance by sreenivasan along with a question-and-answer segment the hybrid event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception in rudders first-floor exhibit hall
alexanders talk are we slaves to our genes will draw from his most recent book of the same title to explore the role of either nature or nurture in shaping human destiny and also critically discuss todays continuing challenges to notions of human freedom and moral responsibility along with the resulting theological implications sreenivasans talk sent by whom flies out thither the mind seeks to dwell on both science and spirituality focusing on the concept that because the human situation is irretrievably linked to the notion of suffering it is plausible that human potential may be more fully achieved by including the spiritual realm as a powerful part of human life in addition to being an emeritus fellow of st edmunds college alexander is a past chair of the molecular immunology programme and head of the babraham institute laboratory of lymphocyte signalling and development at cambridge previously he was at the imperial cancer research laboratories in london (now cancer research uk) and spent 15 years developing university departments and laboratories overseas in the latter case as an associate professor of biochemistry in the medical faculty of the american university of beirut lebanon where he helped to establish the national unit of human genetics from 1992 to 2013 alexander was editor of the journal science and christian belief he also served as a member of the executive committee of the international society for science and religion
shows like servant of the people on netflix or statements from celebrities such as olga smirnova who she said she is against this war with every fiber of [her] soul are various forms of performance that address the invasion of ukraine james ball an associate professor in the department of performance studies argues that though often perceived as less entertaining political rhetoric and appearances are also war performances both film and performance within speeches and presentations have been used by major political figures throughout the conflict in ukraine for example ball references ukraine president volodymyr zelenskys addresses to the us congress and the un security council on april 5 in the security council the video consisted of images and video of civilian corpses while a mournful tune played on piano and strings and sounds of distressed human voices bubbled up before concluding with the title#stoprussianaggression ball said film in this context is a necessary tool in the effort to hold russia morally and materially accountable for the invasion outside of ukraine other political figures have been performing as well ball said that biden is using stage presence to prevent escalation within the ukraine invasion another way to think of the power of performance might be to return to the weeks leading up to the invasion to consider the quintessentially theatrical strategy the biden administration used to respond to russia ball explained for weeks the biden administration systematically declassified intelligence regarding the russian plans and military build up and took pains to announce to the world what was happening in other words they took things that were happeningoff stage and moved them directlycenter stage this is a dramaturgical strategy by staging this activity making it visible to a global audience they seemed to hope that russias behavior might be changed and the war averted film and performance will also continue to play a vital part in the retelling of this conflict once it is over in ways that may affect future conflicts when the war ends whenever that may be i think our cultural products traditional film and theater will have another role to play ball shared how the tales of ukraines savvy and heroism the missteps of the russian military and atrocities committed by russian leaders and soldiers are told will have an impact on future policy decisions in russia and around the world overall the conflict in ukraine can be viewed through a lens of performance and film with a basic understanding of methods used within film and performance the general public can unpack the media they encounter in this conflict we can perhaps see quite starkly that though a raw accounting for power such as numbers of troops and materials is always unavoidable that power must nonetheless be performed in the streets and on our stages and screens in order for it to cleanly accomplish its goals ball said
on february 22 texas governor greg abbott directed the states child welfare agency to open child abuse investigations into parents who provide gender-affirming care to their children in a letter issued to state health agencies he said doctors nurses and teachers are now required to report parents who allow their child to undergo such treatment according to mindy bergman a professor in the department of psychological and brain sciences abbotts directive will likely cause severe psychological damage to the transgender community theres always been research on the effects of denying various rights to lgbtq+ youth bergman said it raises suicide rates on the other hand when the supreme court legalized marriage equality we actually saw a decrease in lgbtq+ youth suicide rates this will have the opposite effect bergman said she expects multiple groups within the lgbtq+ community will be affected by this decree and as such there are multiple groups that can be considered at-risk the first line of people who are at risk here are the kids who are getting gender-affirming care because they can get stopped under this new law bergman said very closely related to that are the caregivers or parents because they are the ones who sign off on this medical treatment and while she cant comment on the legal risks to physicians she believes there is a danger for psychological risk because physicians will now be unable to do the best for their patients even though theyve sworn to do so the second group who are at risk are the younger people who havent yet come out as transgender and are seeing this as yet another sign that theyre essentially not welcome in society or even on this earth bergman said yet another group she believes are the adults who are trans whether theyve come out or not in either case these adults are being told that they arent full valid people; theyre second-class citizens bergman said these people have always been here and when you tell them that their feelings arent valid it doesnt make those feelings go away; it just makes them feel not valuable she believes that essentially this law is coming from a fundamental misunderstanding of what constitutes gender-affirming health care what were usually talking about is puberty blockers which prevent certain hormones from being released in the body and basically puts puberty on pause bergman said it allows the body to pause the development course so the person can think it through thats all were talking about bergman also disagrees with the notion that children are incapable of making these decisions until they are older people think its a mental illness or cant believe that children can know at this age who they are but thats crazy she said when you talk to people not in the lgbtq+ community they probably had crushes on people of the opposite sex since the age of 6 all in all bergman is fearful of the consequences of this law on an already marginalized and underrepresented community this law is really preventing the kind of care people need to be themselves she said when you feel out of place with your body the solution isnt just to stop hating your body; its to change your body
the counsel at first appearance (cafa) study led by georges naufal a research scientist with the public policy research institute at texas a&m university examines the value of legal representation in the magistration process in hays potter and travis counties the 12-month implementation stage launched in travis county on april 8 the implementation stage in hays and potter counties is complete and data analysis is in process ppri will be joined by the access to justice lab at harvard law school the capital area for private defender service the public defenders office of travis county and the texas indigent defense commission for the implementation of this study and is supported by arnold ventures we are going to determine whether having an attorney present advocating on behalf of defendants makes a difference in the bond amount and bond type given naufal said the first step will be qualitative interviews then quantitative [data analysis] and a cost-benefit analysis defendants are randomly assigned to a control or experimental group those placed in the experimental group will meet with an attorney before going to magistration to determine bail amount and type on the days that we are offering representation there will be at least one attorney present said naufal those attorneys will meet with the defendants examine the probable cause of arrest and advocate on behalf of the defendants in front of the magistrate judge currently only four of the 254 counties in texas offer attorneys at magistration according to naufal potential benefits of representation during magistration include more informed decisions from magistrate judges more socioeconomic equality in criminal justice less pretrial jail time reducing costs for the criminal justice system and an increase in early mental health diagnoses spotting [mental health issues] at an early stage of a case is only beneficial not just to the defendant but to the county said naufal [the county] is avoiding potentially long jail sentences and stays which are very costly for taxpayers more information on the counsel at first appearance study is available on the public policy research institutes website about public policy research institute as a leading policy research group at texas a&m university the public policy research institute (ppri) engages in survey administration statistical analysis evaluation and systems management ppris work has impacted policy in criminal justice economics education public health and more
the organization of american historians (oah) today announced that lorien foote texas a&m university is the recipient of the oahs 2022 civil war and reconstruction book award which is given annually for the most original book on the coming of the civil war the civil war years or the era of reconstruction the award was presented during the oahs 2022 conference on american history footes book rites of retaliation: civilization soldiers and campaigns in the civil war (university of north carolina press) sharpens our focus on a military and legal concept that suffused civil war tactics and combat but has long been overlooked by historians retaliation as lorien foote frames it was a complex almost ritualized set of threats and responses that often determined how both sides fought the war giving structure to the experiences of countless soldiers prisoners and civilians rites of retaliations particular brilliance through its focus on the southeastern theater is in outlining the central role of black soldiers in shaping both union and confederate retaliation policiesa multifaceted series of exchanges that sometimes led to restraint and on other occasions an acceleration of violence and brutality the approach is as innovative and provocative as it is impeccably researched and cogently argued for the full list of oah 2022 award and prize recipients please visit the oah website about the organization of american historians founded in 1907 the organization of american historians (oah) is the largest professional organization dedicated to the teaching and study of united states history the mission of the organization is to promote excellence in the scholarship teaching and presentation of american history and to encourage wide discussion of historical questions and the equitable treatment of all practitioners of history the oah represents more than 6 000 historians working in the united states and abroad members include college and university professors pre collegiate teachers archivists museum curators public historians students and a variety of scholars employed in government and the private sector the oah is located in bloomington indiana and is an external agency of indiana university visit us at wwwoahorg
dr yue zhang assistant professor in the department of atmospheric sciences at texas a&m university was recently awarded large-scale research project funding from the environmental molecular sciences laboratory (emsl) a us department of energy office of science user facility sponsored by the biological and environmental research (ber) program titled connecting the physicochemical properties with ice nucleation properties of secondary organic aerosols formed from multiphase chemical processes the project will address gaps in scientists understanding of how secondary organic aerosols or soas interact with clouds this project will provide new insights on how the soas generated from multiphase reactions an important pathway for trace atmospheric gases to directly interact with particles will affect aerosol physicochemical properties and aerosol-cloud interactions zhang said the outcome will be useful for improving current models in predicting aerosol transformation and future climate aerosols are liquid droplets and fine solid particles suspended in the atmosphere some aerosols consist of mineral dust and sea salt zhang said that the majority of the fine particles whose diameters are smaller than 25 micrometers and detrimental to human health and the climate consist of other compositions such as organic carbon sulfate and nitrate including organosulfates formed by the atmospheric chemical interaction of sulfate and organic carbon the complex physicochemical properties of these particles will have important implications on the health and climate effects of aerosols we are excited about this research because we will be able to systematically generate complex and realistic aerosol particles mimicking those formed in the ambient environment zhang said then we will be able to work with experts at emsl and use state-of-the-art instruments to understand the impacts of aerosol physicochemical properties on our climate thirty-five projects were allocated resources from emsl and scientists from each project will receive up to two years of access to emsls world-class expertise and instrumentation zhangs research team plans to analyze the morphology mixing state phase state and other physicochemical properties by working with the research team at emsl collaborators on the project will include dr swarup china dr alla zelenyuk dr gourihar kulkarni and other scientists from pnnl ice nucleating properties of soa are poorly understood and i hope this project will shed light on the building blocks of organics aerosol to better represent ice formation properties in a cloud model kulkarni said undergraduate researchers and graduate students in zhangs laboratory including students from underrepresented groups will also participate in this project he noted zhangs aerosol research work is also supported by national science foundation the microscopic images and other physicochemical properties of the soa obtained from this emsl collaboration will improve knowledge in the climate effects of aerosol particles and connect scientific questions in other projects as well helping us better understand and predict the earths atmosphere
for more than 20 years weather forecasters across the country have turned to texas a&m for online weather data that is uniquely simple and powerful the weather data interface (wdi) is a text-based live query system that provides data from both observations and numerical model results meteorologists find the wdi particularly useful because it allows users to get the model prediction at any standard airport location anywhere in the country said instructional professor in the department of atmospheric sciences dr don conlee it is also a good interface for retrieving the aviation weather observations as one of the members of the university corporation for atmospheric research (ucar) we have access to unidata worldwide weather data which enables us to provide it to other users conlee said chris mouchyn* senior it professional in the college of geosciences and dr gyorgyi szunyogh research scientist in atmospheric sciences help maintain the wdi about 17 000 unique visitors per month use the wdi helping meteorologists all over the country get reliable data texas a&m also developed and maintains the hdwx (high-definition weather) site which was established by conlee mouchyn and a previous faculty member over 12 years ago the original purpose of hdwx was to equip a chart base for the weather center housed on the 12th floor of the o&m building when dr conlee and his colleagues were building the weather center in 2009 they wanted to recreate the benefits of traditional paper chart walls the weather charts satellite and radar images provided on the hdwx webpage are all in hd resolution (which was not common at the time) so the name hdwx was chosen those charts are also frequently used in class for teaching purposes and students find themselves becoming very comfortable with the available charts a few years ago to meet the needs of graduated former students seeking to use it off-campus and the community at-large hdwx became an open-access site today students staff and faculty in atmospheric sciences continue to collaborate and innovate to serve the meteorological community and the public * this link is no longer active and has been removed