Measurement of Resonance Parameters of Orbitally Excited Narrow B^0 Mesons

We report a measurement of resonance parameters of the orbitally excited (L=1) narrow B^0 mesons in decays to B^{(*)+}\pi^- using 1.7/fb of data collected by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. The mass and width of the B^{*0}_2 state are measured to be m(B^{*0}_2) = 5740.2^{+1.7}_{-1.8}(stat.) ^{+0.9}_{-0.8}(syst.) MeV/c^2 and \Gamma(B^{*0}_2) = 22.7^{+3.8}_{-3.2}(stat.) ^{+3.2}_{-10.2}(syst.) MeV/c^2. The mass difference between the B^{*0}_2 and B^0_1 states is measured to be 14.9^{+2.2}_{-2.5}(stat.) ^{+1.2}_{-1.4}(syst.) MeV/c^2, resulting in a B^0_1 mass of 5725.3^{+1.6}_{-2.2}(stat.) ^{+1.4}_{-1.5}(syst.) MeV/c^2. This is currently the most precise measurement of the masses of these states and the first measurement of the B^{*0}_2 width.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, 1 table. Submitted to Phys.Rev.Let

Measurement of the fraction of t-tbar production via gluon-gluon fusion in p-pbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV

We present a measurement of the ratio of t-tbar production cross section via gluon-gluon fusion to the total t-tbar production cross section in p-pbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV at the Tevatron. Using a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 955/pb recorded by the CDF II detector at Fermilab, we select events based on the t-tbar decay to lepton+jets. Using an artificial neural network technique we discriminate between t-tbar events produced via q-qbar annihilation and gluon-gluon fusion, and find Cf=(gg->ttbar)/(pp->ttbar)<0.33 at the 68% confidence level. This result is combined with a previous measurement to obtain the most precise measurement of this quantity, Cf=0.07+0.15-0.07.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.

Search for lepton flavor violating decays of a heavy neutral particle in p-pbar collisions at root(s)=1.8 TeV

We report on a search for a high mass, narrow width particle that decays directly to e+mu, e+tau, or mu+tau. We use approximately 110 pb^-1 of data collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab from 1992 to 1995. No evidence of lepton flavor violating decays is found. Limits are set on the production and decay of sneutrinos with R-parity violating interactions.Comment: Figure 2 fixed. Reference 4 fixed. Minor changes to tex

Edging your bets: advantage play, gambling, crime and victimisation

Consumerism, industrial development and regulatory liberalisation have underpinned the ascendance of gambling to a mainstream consumption practice. In particular, the online gambling environment has been marketed as a site of ‘safe risks’ where citizens can engage in a multitude of different forms of aleatory consumption. This paper offers a virtual ethnography of an online ‘advantage play’ subculture. It demonstrates how advantage players have reinterpreted the online gambling landscape as an environment saturated with crime and victimisation. In this virtual world, advantage play is no longer simply an instrumental act concerned with profit accumulation to finance consumer desires. Rather, it acts as an opportunity for individuals to engage in a unique form of edgework, whereby the threat to one’s well-being is tested through an ability to avoid crime and victimisation. This paper demonstrates how mediated environments may act as sites for edgeworking and how the potential for victimisation can be something that is actively engaged with

Evaluating Lifeworld as an emancipatory methodology

Disability research is conducted within a highly politicised ‘hotbed’ of competing paradigms and principles. New researchers, who want to work within the social model, are soon faced with complex and challenging methodological and philosophical dilemmas. The social model advocates research agendas that are focused on the emancipation and empowerment of disabled people but, in reality, these are rarely achieved. To be successful researchers need to engage with innovative and creative methodologies and to share their experiences of these within environments that welcome challenge and debate. This paper focuses on Lifeworld and assesses its value as a tool for emancipatory research. Using examples from a study with parents, whose children were in the process of being labelled as having autism, the paper illustrates how the principles that ‘underpin’ the methodology offered a supportive framework for a novice researcher

Assessment innovation and student experience: a new assessment challenge and call for a multi-perspective approach to assessment research

The impact of innovative assessment on student experience in higher education is a neglected research topic. This represents an important gap in the literature given debate around the marketization of higher education, international focus on student satisfaction measurement tools and political calls to put students at the heart of higher education in the UK. This paper reports on qualitative findings from a research project examining the impact of assessment preferences and familiarity on student attainment and experience. It argues that innovation is defined by the student, shaped by diverse assessment experiences and preferences and therefore its impact is difficult to predict. It proposes that future innovations must explore assessment choice mechanisms which allow students to shape their own assessments. Cultural change and staff development will be required to achieve this. To be accepted, assessment for student experience must be viewed as a complementary layer within a complex multi perspective model of assessment which also embraces assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment for life long learning. Further research is required to build a meta theory of assessment to enhance the synergies between these alternative approaches and to minimise tensions between them

Implications of antimicrobial combinations in complex wound biofilms containing fungi

Diabetic foot ulcer treatment currently focuses on targeting bacterial biofilms, while dismissing fungi. To investigate this we used an in vitro biofilm model containing bacteria and fungi, reflective of the wound environment, to test the impact of antimicrobials. Here we showed that while mono-treatment approaches influenced biofilm composition it had no discernible effect on overall quantity. Only by combining bacterial and fungal specific antibiotics were we able to decrease the biofilm bioburden, irrespective of composition

Sexual orientation and symptoms of common mental disorder or low wellbeing: combined meta-analysis of 12 UK population health surveys

Background Previous studies have indicated increased risk of mental disorder symptoms, suicide and substance misuse in lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults, compared to heterosexual adults. Our aims were to determine an estimate of the association between sexual orientation identity and poor mental health and wellbeing among adults from 12 population surveys in the UK, and to consider whether effects differed for specific subgroups of the population. Methods Individual data were pooled from the British Cohort Study 2012, Health Survey for England 2011, 2012 and 2013, Scottish Health Survey 2008 to 2013, Longitudinal Study of Young People in England 2009/10 and Understanding Society 2011/12. Individual participant meta-analysis was used to pool estimates from each study, allowing for between-study variation. Results Of 94,818 participants, 1.1 % identified as lesbian/gay, 0.9 % as bisexual, 0.8 % as ‘other’ and 97.2 % as heterosexual. Adjusting for a range of covariates, adults who identified as lesbian/gay had higher prevalence of common mental disorder when compared to heterosexuals, but the association was different in different age groups: apparent for those under 35 (OR = 1.78, 95 % CI 1.40, 2.26), weaker at age 35–54.9 (OR = 1.42, 95 % CI 1.10, 1.84), but strongest at age 55+ (OR = 2.06, 95 % CI 1.29, 3.31). These effects were stronger for bisexual adults, similar for those identifying as ‘other’, and similar for 'low wellbeing'. Conclusions In the UK, LGB adults have higher prevalence of poor mental health and low wellbeing when compared to heterosexuals, particularly younger and older LGB adults. Sexual orientation identity should be measured routinely in all health studies and in administrative data in the UK in order to influence national and local policy development and service delivery. These results reiterate the need for local government, NHS providers and public health policy makers to consider how to address inequalities in mental health among these minority groups