Fundamental Symmetries and Conservation Laws

I discuss recent progress in low-energy tests of symmetries and conservation laws, including parity nonconservation in atoms and nuclei, electric dipole moment tests of time-reversal invariance, beta-decay correlation studies, and decays violating separate (family) and total lepton number.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; plenary talk presented at PANIC0

Combined effect of coherent Z exchange and the hyperfine interaction in atomic PNC

The nuclear spin-dependent parity nonconserving (PNC) interaction arising from a combination of the hyperfine interaction and the coherent, spin-independent, PNC interaction from Z exchange is evaluated using many-body perturbation theory. For the 6s-7s transition in 133Cs, we obtain a result that is about 40% smaller than that found previously by Bouchiat and Piketty [Phys. Lett. B 269, 195 (1991)]. Applying this result to 133Cs, leads to an increase in the experimental value of nuclear anapole moment and exacerbates differences between constraints on PNC meson coupling constants obtained from the Cs anapole moment and those obtained from other nuclear parity violating experiments. Nuclear spin-dependent PNC dipole matrix elements, including contributions from the combined weak-hyperfine interaction, are also given for the 7s-8s transition in 211Fr and for transitions between ground-state hyperfine levels in K, Rb, Cs, Ba+, Au, Tl, Fr, and Ra+.Comment: Revtex4 preprint 19 pages 4 table

TU Sat 1—An Innovative Low-Cost Communications Satellite

Taylor University (TU), an undergraduate liberal arts university, is developing a communication Cube- Sat. TU Sat 1 incorporates powerful microelectronics, a gravity gradient boom, and a low-cost email communications system capable of operating at a 115-kbps rate near 0.9 GHz. The goal is to demonstrate low cost communication for remote villages in third world countries. TU Sat 1 also includes a magnetometer and Langmuir probe to measure plasma density and temperature at an altitude of 650 km. Furthermore, TU Sat 1 provides students with the needed experience and skills to be on the leading edge of innovation

UK export performance research - review and implications

Previous research on export performance has been criticized for being a mosaic of autonomous endeavours and for a lack of theoretical development. Building upon extant models of export performance, and a review and analysis of research on export performance in the UK for the period 1990-2005, an integrated model of export performance is developed and theoretical explanations of export performance are put forward. It is suggested that a multi-theory approach to explaining export performance is viable. Management and policy implications for the UK emerging from the review and synthesis of the literature and the integrated model are discussed

ANK2 autism mutation targeting giant ankyrin-B promotes axon branching and ectopic connectivity

Giant ankyrin-B (ankB) is a neurospecific alternatively spliced variant of ANK2, a high-confidence autism spectrum disorder (ASD) gene. We report that a mouse model for human ASD mutation of giant ankB exhibits increased axonal branching in cultured neurons with ectopic CNS axon connectivity, as well as with a transient increase in excitatory synapses during postnatal development. We elucidate a mechanism normally limiting axon branching, whereby giant ankB localizes to periodic axonal plasma membrane domains through L1 cell-adhesion molecule protein, where it couples microtubules to the plasma membrane and prevents microtubule entry into nascent axon branches. Giant ankB mutation or deficiency results in a dominantly inherited impairment in selected communicative and social behaviors combined with superior executive function. Thus, gain of axon branching due to giant ankB-deficiency/mutation is a candidate cellular mechanism to explain aberrant structural connectivity and penetrant behavioral consequences in mice as well as humans bearing ASD-related ANK2 mutations

Hadron yields and spectra in Au+Au collisions at the AGS

Inclusive double differential multiplicities and rapidity density distributions of hadrons are presented for 10.8 A GeV/c Au+Au collisions as measured at the AGS by the E877 collaboration. The results indicate that large amounts of stopping and collective transverse flow effects are present. The data are also compared to the results from the lighter Si+Al system.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 10 figures, submitted to Nuclear Physics A (Quark Matter 1996 Proceedings

The Intentional Use of Service Recovery Strategies to Influence Consumer Emotion, Cognition and Behaviour

Service recovery strategies have been identified as a critical factor in the success of. service organizations. This study develops a conceptual frame work to investigate how specific service recovery strategies influence the emotional, cognitive and negative behavioural responses of . consumers., as well as how emotion and cognition influence negative behavior. Understanding the impact of specific service recovery strategies will allow service providers' to more deliberately and intentionally engage in strategies that result in positive organizational outcomes. This study was conducted using a 2 x 2 between-subjects quasi-experimental design. The results suggest that service recovery has a significant impact on emotion, cognition and negative behavior. Similarly, satisfaction, negative emotion and positive emotion all influence negative behavior but distributive justice has no effect

Observing the First Stars and Black Holes

The high sensitivity of JWST will open a new window on the end of the cosmological dark ages. Small stellar clusters, with a stellar mass of several 10^6 M_sun, and low-mass black holes (BHs), with a mass of several 10^5 M_sun should be directly detectable out to redshift z=10, and individual supernovae (SNe) and gamma ray burst (GRB) afterglows are bright enough to be visible beyond this redshift. Dense primordial gas, in the process of collapsing from large scales to form protogalaxies, may also be possible to image through diffuse recombination line emission, possibly even before stars or BHs are formed. In this article, I discuss the key physical processes that are expected to have determined the sizes of the first star-clusters and black holes, and the prospect of studying these objects by direct detections with JWST and with other instruments. The direct light emitted by the very first stellar clusters and intermediate-mass black holes at z>10 will likely fall below JWST's detection threshold. However, JWST could reveal a decline at the faint-end of the high-redshift luminosity function, and thereby shed light on radiative and other feedback effects that operate at these early epochs. JWST will also have the sensitivity to detect individual SNe from beyond z=10. In a dedicated survey lasting for several weeks, thousands of SNe could be detected at z>6, with a redshift distribution extending to the formation of the very first stars at z>15. Using these SNe as tracers may be the only method to map out the earliest stages of the cosmic star-formation history. Finally, we point out that studying the earliest objects at high redshift will also offer a new window on the primordial power spectrum, on 100 times smaller scales than probed by current large-scale structure data.Comment: Invited contribution to "Astrophysics in the Next Decade: JWST and Concurrent Facilities", Astrophysics & Space Science Library, Eds. H. Thronson, A. Tielens, M. Stiavelli, Springer: Dordrecht (2008

Development of a statistical crop model to explain the relationship between seed yield and phenotypic diversity within the Brassica napus Genepool

Plants are extremely versatile organisms that respond to the environment in which they find themselves, but a large part of their development is under genetic regulation. The links between developmental parameters and yield are poorly understood in oilseed rape; understanding this relationship will help growers to predict their yields more accurately and breeders to focus on traits that may lead to yield improvements. To determine the relationship between seed yield and other agronomic traits, we investigated the natural variation that already exists with regards to resource allocation in 37 lines of the crop species Brassica napus. Over 130 different traits were assessed; they included seed yield parameters, seed composition, leaf mineral analysis, rates of pod and leaf senescence and plant architecture traits. A stepwise regression analysis was used to model statistically the measured traits with seed yield per plant. Above-ground biomass and protein content together accounted for 94.36% of the recorded variation. The primary raceme area, which was highly correlated with yield parameters (0.65), provides an early indicator of potential yield. The pod and leaf photosynthetic and senescence parameters measured had only a limited influence on seed yield and were not correlated with each other, indicating that reproductive development is not necessarily driving the senescence process within field-grown B. napus. Assessing the diversity that exists within the B. napus gene pool has highlighted architectural, seed and mineral composition traits that should be targeted in breeding programmes through the development of linked markers to improve crop yields

System Size and Energy Dependence of Jet-Induced Hadron Pair Correlation Shapes in Cu+Cu and Au+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 and 62.4 GeV

We present azimuthal angle correlations of intermediate transverse momentum (1-4 GeV/c) hadrons from {dijets} in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV. The away-side dijet induced azimuthal correlation is broadened, non-Gaussian, and peaked away from \Delta\phi=\pi in central and semi-central collisions in all the systems. The broadening and peak location are found to depend upon the number of participants in the collision, but not on the collision energy or beam nuclei. These results are consistent with sound or shock wave models, but pose challenges to Cherenkov gluon radiation models.Comment: 464 authors from 60 institutions, 6 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Physical Review Letters. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm