Two-photon width of the charmonium state X_(c2)

The two-photon width of X_(c2)^3P_2 state of charmonium has been measured using 14.4 fb^(-1) of e^+e^-data taken at √s =9.46–11.30 GeV with the CLEO III detector. The yy-fusion reaction studied is e^+e^- → e^+e^-yy, → yy X_(c2) → yJ/Ψ → ye^+e^-(µ^+µ^-). We measure Г_(yy) (X_(c2))B(X_(c2)) → y J/Ψ)B(J/Ψ → e^+e^- + µ^+µ^-)= 13.2 ± 1.4(stat)± 1.1(syst) eV, and obtain Г yy(Xc2)= 559 ± 57(stat) ± 48(syst) ± 36(br) eV. This result is in excellent agreement with the result of -fusion measurement by Belle and is consistent with that of the pp → X_(c2) → yy measurement, when they are both reevaluated using the recent CLEO result for the radiative decay X_(c2) → J/Ψ

Will Ride-Hailing Enhance Mobility for Older Adults? A California Survey

Ride-hailing services such as Lyft and Uber offer a potential mobility option for the growing numbers of aging Californians who risk social and economic isolation if they cannot drive for health or financial reasons. They could also serve older adults who currently have mobility options but would prefer a ride-hailing alternative for at least some trips. This study addressed whether and how older Californians use ride-hailing, as well as the potential of this travel mode to meet the needs of older adults now and in the coming decade. An online survey was completed by 2,917 California adults aged 55 and older. This age range was chosen to include both current seniors (age 65 and older) and individuals who will soon be entering that age group (age 55 to 64). The survey explored whether older Californians who have access to the internet used ride-hailing, how comfortable they were with ride-hailing service features that might present barriers to usage, whether they would value potential new ride-hailing service features designed to improve safety, accessibility, and payment options, and what reasons (if any) they saw to use ride-hailing. We also collected data on various factors hypothesized to influence ride-hailing use and behaviors, such as use of the internet and online banking. Key survey findings indicated that 44% of respondents 65 years old and older had experienced ride-hailing and 27% had booked a ride themselves via phone or using the app. Also, the potential new ride-hailing service features that appealed to large numbers of today’s and tomorrow’s seniors include having a driver trained to help older passengers and the option to pay with a ride-hailing card that is not linked to a bank account or credit card. Results also indicated that there were fewer large variations by personal characteristics than we anticipated would influence ride- hailing behavior and attitudes, such as gender, age, and regular use of technology. However, there were some clear differences by population subgroups, most noticeably by income, education, community type (e.g., urban vs. rural), and use of public transit

Differences in ride-hailing adoption by older californians among types of locations

Ride-hailing services such as Lyft and Uber can complement rides offered by family, friends, paid providers, and public transit. To learn why older adults might wish to use ride-hail, we conducted an online survey of 2,917 California respondents age 55 and older. Participants were asked whether they would value four features hypothesized to be benefits of ride-hailing. We specified binary logit models and used market segmentation to investigate whether there were location-based differences in the use of ride-hailing. Our analysis showed that women, city dwellers, persons with disabilities, and those who rely on others for rides were more open to ride-hailing. Women in suburbs or small town/ rural settings were more likely to ride-hail than their male counterparts for reasons of independence, fear of being lost while driving, or getting help with carrying bags. Urban women, in contrast, were less likely than their male counterparts to ride-hail for these reasons. High-income individuals in suburbs or small town/rural locations were more likely to ride-hail than low-income respondents, while high-income urban residents were less likely to ride-hail. Adoption of ride-hailing services and the reasons for doing so showed strong variability by location even among respondents with similar socio-demographic attributes

Effects of bracing in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis

BACKGROUND: The role of bracing in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis who are at risk for curve progression and eventual surgery is controversial. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter study that included patients with typical indications for bracing due to their age, skeletal immaturity, and degree of scoliosis. Both a randomized cohort and a preference cohort were enrolled. Of 242 patients included in the analysis, 116 were randomly assigned to bracing or observation, and 126 chose between bracing and observation. Patients in the bracing group were instructed to wear the brace at least 18 hours per day. The primary outcomes were curve progression to 50 degrees or more (treatment failure) and skeletal maturity without this degree of curve progression (treatment success). RESULTS: The trial was stopped early owing to the efficacy of bracing. In an analysis that included both the randomized and preference cohorts, the rate of treatment success was 72% after bracing, as compared with 48% after observation (propensity-score–adjusted odds ratio for treatment success, 1.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08 to 3.46). In the intention-to-treat analysis, the rate of treatment success was 75% among patients randomly assigned to bracing, as compared with 42% among those randomly assigned to observation (odds ratio, 4.11; 95% CI, 1.85 to 9.16). There was a significant positive association between hours of brace wear and rate of treatment success (P CONCLUSIONS: Bracing significantly decreased the progression of high-risk curves to the threshold for surgery in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. The benefit increased with longer hours of brace wear. (Funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and others; BRAIST ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00448448opens in new tab.)</p

On Rationality

Rationality is an enduring topic of interest across the disciplines and has become even more so, given the current crises that are unfolding in our society. The four books reviewed here, which are written by academics working in economics, political science, political theory and philosophy, provide an interdisciplinary engagement with the idea of rationality and the way it has shaped the institutional frameworks and global political economy of our time. Rational choice theory has certainly proved to be a useful analytic tool in certain contexts, and instrumental reason has been a key tenet of human progress in several periods of history, including the industrial revolution and the modernity that emerged in the nineteenth century. Given the complexity of our current challenges, however, is it time to ask whether this paradigm might be better complemented by more holistic and heterodox approaches? Hindmoor A and Taylor TY (2015) Rational Choice (Political Analysis), 2nd edn. London; New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Massumi (2015) The Power at the End of the Economy. Durham: Duke University Press. Brown (2015) Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution. New York: Zone Books. Ludovisi SG (ed.) (2015) Critical Theory and the Challenge of Praxis: Beyond Reification. Farnham; Burlington, VT: Ashgate

Efficiency of primary saliva secretion: an analysis of parameter dependence in dynamic single-cell and acinus models, with application to aquaporin knockout studies

Secretion from the salivary glands is driven by osmosis following the establishment of osmotic gradients between the lumen, the cell and the interstitium by active ion transport. We consider a dynamic model of osmotically driven primary saliva secretion and use singular perturbation approaches and scaling assumptions to reduce the model. Our analysis shows that isosmotic secretion is the most efficient secretion regime and that this holds for single isolated cells and for multiple cells assembled into an acinus. For typical parameter variations, we rule out any significant synergistic effect on total water secretion of an acinar arrangement of cells about a single shared lumen. Conditions for the attainment of isosmotic secretion are considered, and we derive an expression for how the concentration gradient between the interstitium and the lumen scales with water- and chloride-transport parameters. Aquaporin knockout studies are interpreted in the context of our analysis and further investigated using simulations of transport efficiency with different membrane water permeabilities. We conclude that recent claims that aquaporin knockout studies can be interpreted as evidence against a simple osmotic mechanism are not supported by our work. Many of the results that we obtain are independent of specific transporter details, and our analysis can be easily extended to apply to models that use other proposed ionic mechanisms of saliva secretion

Search for X(3872) in gamma gamma Fusion and ISR at CLEO

We report on a search for the recently reported X(3872) state using 15.1 fb^{-1} e+ e- data taken in the \sqrt{s} = 9.46-11.30 GeV region. Separate searches for the production of X(3872) in untagged gamma-gamma fusion and e+ e- annihilation following initial state radiation (ISR) are made by taking advantage of the unique correlation of J/psi -> l+ l- in X(3872) decay to pi+ pi- J/psi. No signals are observed in either case, and 90% confidence upper limits are established as (2J+1)\Gamma_{\gamma\gamma}B(X -> pi+ pi- J/psi) < 12.9 eV and \Gamma_{ee}B(X -> pi+ pi- J/psi) < 8.3 eV.Comment: 8 pages postscript,also available through http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/2004/, submitted to PR

Evidence for B^(*)_s bar{B}^(*)_s Production at the Upsilon(5S)

Using data collected by the CLEO III detector at CESR, we started a series of investigations on the Upsilon(5S) resonance decay properties. The data sample used for this analysis consists of 0.42 fb-1 of data taken on the Upsilon(5S) resonance, 6.34 fb-1 of data collected on the Upsilon(4S) and 2.32 fb-1 of data taken in the continuum below the Upsilon(4S). B_s mesons are expected to decay predominantly into D_s meson, while the lighter B mesons decay into D_s only about 10% of the time. We exploit this difference to make a preliminary model dependent estimate of the ratio of B_s(*) anti-B_s(*) to the total b anti-b quark pair production at the Upsilon(5S) energy to be (21 +- 3 +- 9)%.Comment: 17 pages postscript,also available through http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/CONF/2004/, Presented at ICHEP Aug 16-22,2004, Beijing, Chin

The Search for eta(1440) --> K^0_S K^pm \pi^mp in Two-Photon Fusion at CLEO

We analyze 13.8 \rm fb^{-1} of the integrated e^+e^- luminosity collected at 10.6 GeV center-of-mass energy with the CLEO II and CLEO II.V detectors to study exclusive two-photon production of hadrons with masses below 1.7{\rm \ GeV/c^2} decaying into the K^0_S K^\pm \pi^\mp final state. We observe two statistically significant enhancements in the \eta(1440) mass region. These enhancements have large transverse momentum which rules them out as being due to pseudoscalar resonances but is consistent with the production of axial-vector mesons. We use tagged two-photon events to study the properties of the observed enhancements and associate them with the production of f_1(1285) and f_1(1420). Our non-observation of \eta(1440) is inconsistent by more than two standard deviations with the first observation of this resonance in two-photon collisions by the L3 experiment. We present our estimates for 90% confidence level upper limits on the products of two-photon partial widths of pseudoscalar hadrons and their branching fractions into K^0_S(\pi^+\pi^-)K^\pm\pi^\mp.Comment: 24 pages postscript,also available through http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/2004/, submitted to PR