Simulation of Three Dimensional Electrostatic Field Configuration in Wire Chambers : A Novel Approach

Three dimensional field configuration has been simulated for a simple wire chamber consisting of one anode wire stretched along the axis of a grounded square cathode tube by solving numerically the boundary integral equation of the first kind. A closed form expression of potential due to charge distributed over flat rectangular surface has been invoked in the solver using Green's function formalism leading to a nearly exact computation of electrostatic field. The solver has been employed to study the effect of several geometrical attributes such as the aspect ratio ($\lambda = \frac{l}{d}$, defined as the ratio of the length $l$ of the tube to its width $d$) and the wire modeling on the field configuration. Detailed calculation has revealed that the field values deviate from the analytic estimates significantly when the $\lambda$ is reduced to 2 or below. The solver has demonstrated the effect of wire modeling on the accuracy of the estimated near-field values in the amplification region. The thin wire results can be reproduced by the polygon model incorporating a modest number of surfaces ($\geq 32$) in the calculation with an accuracy of more than 99%. The smoothness in the three dimensional field calculation in comparison to fluctuations produced by other methods has been observed.Comment: Revised version submitted to Elsevier Science including some more near-field calculation

Reflective scattering effects in double-pomeron exchange processes

We discuss energy dependence of rapidity gap survival probability in the double-pomeron exchange processes with account of the reflective scattering effects.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Novel phytosynthesis of nanoparticles using Indigeneous Australian Plants

Nanoparticles are considered to be the building blocks of nanotechnology. Biosynthesis of nanoparticles using plant material is an exciting and relatively new developing research area in nanobiotechnology. In the present study, Eucalyptus leaves were collected from Olive pink botanical garden, Alice Springs, Australia and were used to synthesize silver nanoparticles. Cubical structured and well monodispersed silver nanoparticles were formed with an average size of 50nm. The formed silver nanoparticles are found to have promising applications in medicine as good antimicrobial agents. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report on exploiting indigeneous Australian plant sources for the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles

Closed Strings with Low Harmonics and Kinks

Low-harmonic formulas for closed relativistic strings are given. General parametrizations are presented for the addition of second- and third-harmonic waves to the fundamental wave. The method of determination of the parametrizations is based upon a product representation found for the finite Fourier series of string motion in which the constraints are automatically satisfied. The construction of strings with kinks is discussed, including examples. A procedure is laid out for the representation of kinks that arise from self-intersection, and subsequent intercommutation, for harmonically parametrized cosmic strings.Comment: 39, CWRUTH-93-

The Lore of Low Methane Livestock:Co-Producing Technology and Animals for Reduced Climate Change Impact

Methane emissions from sheep and cattle production have gained increasing profile in the context of climate change. Policy and scientific research communities have suggested a number of technological approaches to mitigate these emissions. This paper uses the concept of co-production as an analytical framework to understand farmers’ evaluation of a 'good animal’. It examines how technology and sheep and beef cattle are co-produced in the context of concerns about the climate change impact of methane. Drawing on 42 semi-structured interviews, this paper demonstrates that methane emissions are viewed as a natural and integral part of sheep and beef cattle by farmers, rather than as a pollutant. Sheep and beef cattle farmers in the UK are found to be an extremely heterogeneous group that need to be understood in their specific social, environmental and consumer contexts. Some are more amenable to appropriating methane reducing measures than others, but largely because animals are already co-constructed from the natural and the technical for reasons of increased production efficiency

Robotic milking technologies and renegotiating situated ethical relationships on UK dairy farms

Robotic or automatic milking systems (AMS) are novel technologies that take over the labor of dairy farming and reduce the need for human-animal interactions. Because robotic milking involves the replacement of 'conventional' twice-a-day milking managed by people with a system that supposedly allows cows the freedom to be milked automatically whenever they choose, some claim robotic milking has health and welfare benefits for cows, increases productivity, and has lifestyle advantages for dairy farmers. This paper examines how established ethical relations on dairy farms are unsettled by the intervention of a radically different technology such as AMS. The renegotiation of ethical relationships is thus an important dimension of how the actors involved are re-assembled around a new technology. The paper draws on in-depth research on UK dairy farms comparing those using conventional milking technologies with those using AMS. We explore the situated ethical relations that are negotiated in practice, focusing on the contingent and complex nature of human-animal-technology interactions. We show that ethical relations are situated and emergent, and that as the identities, roles, and subjectivities of humans and animals are unsettled through the intervention of a new technology, the ethical relations also shift. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Search for the decay K+→π+ννˉK^+\to \pi^+ \nu \bar\nu in the momentum region Pπ<195 MeV/cP_\pi < 195 {\rm ~MeV/c}

We have searched for the decay $K^+ \to \pi^+ \nu \bar\nu$ in the kinematic region with pion momentum below the $K^+ \to \pi^+ \pi^0$ peak. One event was observed, consistent with the background estimate of $0.73\pm 0.18$. This implies an upper limit on $B(K^+ \to \pi^+ \nu \bar\nu)< 4.2\times 10^{-9}$ (90% C.L.), consistent with the recently measured branching ratio of $(1.57^{+1.75}_{-0.82}) \times 10^{-10}$, obtained using the standard model spectrum and the kinematic region above the $K^+ \to \pi^+ \pi^0$ peak. The same data were used to search for $K^+ \to \pi^+ X^0$, where $X^0$ is a weakly interacting neutral particle or system of particles with $150 < M_{X^0} < 250 {\rm ~MeV/c^2}$.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure