Greenhouse gas emissions from non-recyclable residual household waste within domestic wheeled bins

The evolution of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from waste treatment processes (e.g. landfill & composting) are well documented (Chen and Lin, 2008), frequently quantified (Lou and Nair, 2009) and currently represented within climate change models (Ciais et al., 2013). Conversely, the understanding of GHG emissions from household waste (pre-collection) is largely unknown and confined to composting studies (e.g. Andersen et al., 2010), or calculating the calorific value/elemental content (Komilis et al., 2012) and biological methane potential (Alibardi and Cossu, 2015) of municipal solid waste. Generating a better understanding of GHG fluxes from non-recycled residual household waste before collection may help to further refine climate models and inform policy makers regarding the best collection strategy to mitigate GHG emissions

Methane emissions from forested closed landfill sites: Variations between tree species and landfill management practices

Trees in natural and managed environments can act as conduits for the transportation of methane (CH4) from below ground to the atmosphere, bypassing oxidation in aerobic surface soils. Tree stem emissions from landfill sites exhibit large temporal and spatial variability in temperate environments and can account for approximately 40% of the total surface CH4 flux. Emission variability was further investigated in this study by measuring CH4 and CO2 fluxes from landfill sites with different management strategies and varying tree species over a 7-month period. Stem and soil measurements were obtained using flux chambers and an off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy analyser. Analysis showed average stem and soil CH emissions varied significantly (p4 fluxes from sites with no clay cap but gas extraction, clay cap and gas extraction, and no clay cap and no gas extraction were 1.4 ± 0.4 μg m-2 h-1, 47.2 ± 19.0 μg m-2 h-1, and 111.9 ± 165.1 μg m-2 h-1, respectively. There was no difference in stem CH4 fluxes between species at each site, suggesting environmental conditions (waterlogging) and site age had a greater influence on both stem and soil fluxes. These results highlight the importance of management practices, and the resultant environmental conditions, in determining CH4 emissions from historic landfill sites

Observation of the Dynamic Beta Effect at CESR with CLEO

Using the silicon strip detector of the CLEO experiment operating at the Cornell Electron-positron Storage Ring (CESR), we have observed that the horizontal size of the luminous region decreases in the presence of the beam-beam interaction from what is expected without the beam-beam interaction. The dependence on the bunch current agrees with the prediction of the dynamic beta effect. This is the first direct observation of the effect.Comment: 9 page uuencoded postscript file, postscritp file also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Rate Measurement of D0→K+π−π0D^{0}\to K^{+}\pi^{-}\pi^{0} and Constraints on D0−D0‾D^{0} - \overline{D^{0}} Mixing

We present an observation and rate measurement of the decay D0 -> K+pi-pi0 produced in 9/fb of e+e- collisions near the Upsilon(4S) resonance. The signal is inconsistent with an upward fluctuation of the background by 4.9 standard deviations. We measured the rate of D0 -> K+pi-pi0 normalized to the rate of D0bar -> K+pi-pi0 to be 0.0043 +0.0011 -0.0010 (stat) +/- 0.0007 (syst). This decay can be produced by doubly-Cabibbo-suppressed decays or by the D0 evolving into a D0bar through mixing, followed by a Cabibbo-favored decay to K+pi-pi0. We also found the CP asymmetry A=(8 +25 -22)% to be consistent with zero.Comment: 10 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Study of 3-prong Hadronic τ\tau Decays with Charged Kaons

Using a sample of 4.7/fb integrated luminosity accumulated with the CLEO-II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), we have measured the branching fractions of the tau lepton into $K^- h^+ \pi^- \nu_\tau$ and $K^- K^+ \pi^- \nu_\tau$ relative to $h^- h^+ h^- \nu_\tau; K^- h^+ \pi^- \pi^0\nu_\tau$ and $K^- K^+ \pi^- \pi^0\nu_\tau$ relative to $h^- h^+ h^- \pi^0 \nu_\tau$. The relative branching fractions are: (5.16+-0.20+-0.50)*$10^{-2}$, (1.52+-0.14+-0.29)*$10^{-2}$, (2.54+-0.44+-0.39)*$10^{-2}$ and $<0.0154$ at 95% C.L., respectively. Coupled with additional experimental information, we use our results to extract information on the structure of three-prong tau decays to charged kaons.Comment: 16 pages postscript file also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

A Search for Jet Handedness in Hadronic Z0Z^0 Decays

We have searched for signatures of polarization in hadronic jets from $Z^0 \to q \bar{q}$ decays using the ``jet handedness'' method. The polar angle asymmetry induced by the high SLC electron-beam polarization was used to separate quark jets from antiquark jets, expected to be left- and right-polarized, respectively. We find no evidence for jet handedness in our global sample or in a sample of light quark jets and we set upper limits at the 95% C.L. of 0.063 and 0.099 respectively on the magnitude of the analyzing power of the method proposed by Efremov {\it et al.}Comment: Revtex, 8 pages, 2 figure

Search for Baryon and Lepton Number Violating Decays of the τ\tau Lepton

We have searched for five decay modes of the tau lepton that simultaneously violate lepton and baryon number: tau -> anti-proton gamma, tau -> anti-proton pi0, tau -> anti-proton eta, tau -> anti-proton 2pi0, and tau -> anti-proton pi0eta. The data used in the search were collected with the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR). The integrated luminosity of the data sample is 4.7 fb^{-1}, corresponding to the production of 4.3 x 10^6 tau+tau- events. No evidence is found for any of the decays, resulting in much improved upper limits on the branching fractions for the two-body decays and first upper limits for the three-body decays.Comment: 8 pages, postscript file also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

A Measurement of the Decay Asymmetry Parameters in \Xi_{c}^{0}\to \X^{-}\pi^{+}

Using the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring we have measured the $\Xi_c^{0}$ decay asymmetry parameter in the decay $\Xi_c^{0} \to \Xi^{-} \pi^+$. We find $\alpha_{\Xi_c^{0}} \alpha_{\Xi} = 0.26 \pm 0.18{(stat)}^{+0.05}_{-0.04}{(syst)}$, using the world average value of $\alpha_{\Xi} = -0.456 \pm 0.014$ we obtain $\alpha_{\Xi_c^{0}} = -0.56 \pm 0.39{(stat)}^{+0.10}_{-0.09}{(syst)}$. The physically allowed range of a decay asymmetry parameter is $-1<\alpha<+1$. Our result prefers a negative value: $\alpha_{\Xi_c^{0}}$ is $<0.1$ at the 90% CL. The central value occupies the middle of the theoretically expected range but is not yet precise enough to choose between models.Comment: 10 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Observation of Radiative Leptonic Decay of the Tau Lepton

Using 4.68 fb^{-1} of e^+e^- annihilation data collected with the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR) we have studied tau radiative decays tau -> mu nu nu gamma and tau -> e nu nu gamma. For a 10 MeV minimum photon energy in the tau rest frame, the branching fraction of radiative tau decay to a muon or electron is measured to be (3.61+-0.16+-0.35)*10^{-3} or (1.75+-0.06+-0.17)*10^{-2}, respectively. The branching fractions are in agreement with the Standard Model theoretical predictions.Comment: 11 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN