Strong Isospin-Breaking Effects in K-->pi pi at Next-to-Leading Order in the Chiral Expansion

Strong isospin-breaking (IB) contributions to both the octet and 27-plet weak K-->2 pi transitions are evaluated at next-to-leading order (NLO) in the chiral expansion. NLO contributions are shown to significantly reduce the leading order result for the potentially large contribution to the $\Delta I=3/2$ amplitude resulting from strong isospin-breaking modifications to the weak Delta I=1/2 amplitude. The ratio of strong IB 27-plet to strong IB octet contributions is found to be small for all decay amplitudes. Combined with recent results on the corresponding electromagnetic contributions, we find that the ratio of the intrinsic strengths of octet and 27-plet effective weak operators can be taken to be that obtained from experimental data, analyzed ignoring isospin breaking, to an accuracy better than of order 10 percent.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. NLO determination of strong IB modification of weak 27-plet transitions now also included; modified phase discussio

Changes of instability thresholds of rotor due to bearing misalignments

The influence of bearing misalignment upon the dynamic characteristics of statistically indeterminant rotor bearing systems is investigated. Both bearing loads and stability speed limits of a rotor may be changed significantly by magnitude and direction of bearing misalignment. The useful theory of short journal bearings is introduced and simple analytical expressions, governing the misalignment problem, are carried out. Polar plots for the bearing load capacities and stability maps, describing the speed limit in terms of misalignment, are presented. These plots can be used by the designer to estimate deviations between calculation and experimental data due to misalignment effects

Microcanonical Thermodynamics of First Order Phase Transitions studied in the Potts Model

Phase transitions of first and second order can easily be distinguished in small systems in the microcanonical ensemble. Configurations of phase coexistence, which are suppressed in the canonical formulation, carry important information about the main characteristics of first order phase transitions like the transition temperature, the latent heat, and the interphase surface tension. The characterisitc backbending of the micro- canonical caloric equation of state T(E) (not to be confused with the well known Van der Waals loops in ordinary thermodynamics) leading to a negative specific heat is intimatly linked to the interphase surface entropy.Comment: Latex, 4 eps-figures, graphicx.st

The BackPack Food Program\u27s Effects on Self-Reported Hunger and On-Task Behavior

Variations of the BackPack Food Program are implemented in cities and states throughout the nation, however little is known regarding the effects that providing this food has on student performance in school. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the BackPack Food Program\u27s effectiveness in combating student\u27s hunger over the weekends and school breaks, thus decreasing student\u27s self-reported hunger levels. Additionally, this study attempted to analyze the program\u27s effects on student\u27s on-task behavior in the classroom. Over the course of three semesters, hunger surveys were evaluated for 82 students and observations of on-task behavior were recorded for 52 students. Statistical analysis indicated that reports of hunger did not decrease significantly and on-task behavior did not increase significantly. Several limitations must be considered when interpreting the results of this study. Therefore, results are discussed in terms of their implications for future research

Aspects of Nucleon Chiral Perturbation Theory

I review recent progress made in the calculation of nucleon properties in the framework of heavy baryon CHPT. Topics include: Compton scattering, $\pi N$ scattering, the anatomy of a low-energy constant and the induced pseudoscalar form factor.Comment: plain TeX (macro included), 12pp, lecture delivered at the workshop on "Chiral Dynamics: Theory and Experiments", MIT, July 25-29, 199