Making history: intentional capture of future memories

Lifelogging' technology makes it possible to amass digital data about every aspect of our everyday lives. Instead of focusing on such technical possibilities, here we investigate the way people compose long-term mnemonic representations of their lives. We asked 10 families to create a time capsule, a collection of objects used to trigger remembering in the distant future. Our results show that contrary to the lifelogging view, people are less interested in exhaustively digitally recording their past than in reconstructing it from carefully selected cues that are often physical objects. Time capsules were highly expressive and personal, many objects were made explicitly for inclusion, however with little object annotation. We use these findings to propose principles for designing technology that supports the active reconstruction of our future past

Regulation of murine airway surface liquid volume by CFTR and Ca2+-activated Cl- conductances

Two Cl- conductances have been described in the apical membrane of both human and murine proximal airway epithelia that are thought to play predominant roles in airway hydration: (1) CFTR, which is cAMP regulated and (2) the Ca2+-activated Cl- conductance (CaCC) whose molecular identity is uncertain. In addition to second messenger regulation, cross talk between these two channels may also exist and, whereas CFTR is absent or defective in cystic fibrosis (CF) airways, CaCC is preserved, and may even be up-regulated. Increased CaCC activity in CF airways is controversial. Hence, we have investigated the effects of CFTR on CaCC activity and have also assessed the relative contributions of these two conductances to airway surface liquid (ASL) height (volume) in murine tracheal epithelia. We find that CaCC is up-regulated in intact murine CF tracheal epithelia, which leads to an increase in UTP-mediated Cl-/volume secretion. This up-regulation is dependent on cell polarity and is lost in nonpolarized epithelia. We find no role for an increased electrical driving force in CaCC up-regulation but do find an increased Ca2+ signal in response to mucosal nucleotides that may contribute to the increased Cl-/volume secretion seen in intact epithelia. CFTR plays a critical role in maintaining ASL height under basal conditions and accordingly, ASL height is reduced in CF epithelia. In contrast, CaCC does not appear to significantly affect basal ASL height, but does appear to be important in regulating ASL height in response to released agonists (e.g., mucosal nucleotides). We conclude that both CaCC and the Ca2+ signal are increased in CF airway epithelia, and that they contribute to acute but not basal regulation of ASL height

Wear Mechanisms of Carbon-Based Refractory Materials in Silicomanganese Tap Holes—Part I: Equilibrium Calculations and Slag and Refractory Characterization

Silicomanganese (SiMn) as an alloy supplies silicon and manganese to the steelmaking industry. It is produced through carbothermic reduction in a submerged arc furnace. The slag and metal are typically tapped through a single-level tap hole at 50 K (50 C) below the process temperature of 1873 K to 1923 K (1600 C to 1650 C). In one tapblock refractory design configuration, the tap hole is installed as a carbon tapblock and rebuilt during the life of the lining using carbon-based cold ramming paste. The carbon tapblock lasts for a number of years and ramming paste only for months. The purpose of the study presented here was to determine to what extent chemical reactions between carbon-based refractory and slag or metal in the tap hole of a SiMn furnace can contribute to wear of tap-hole refractory. The results of the study are reported in two parts. In Part I, the results of thermodynamic calculations of the potential for chemical reaction between carbon-based refractory material and slag or metal are reported. The results were tested experimentally using pure graphite and synthetic SiMn slag (produced from pure oxides). The paper also reports the composition, microstructure, and phases of industrial SiMn slag, and commercially available carbon block and cold ramming paste refractory materials. These compositions were used in predicted equilibria of refractory–slag reactions. Thermodynamic calculations suggest that reaction between SiMn slag and carbonbased tap-hole refractory is possible, and experiments with nominally pure materials support this. However, practical refractory materials are by no means pure materials, and contain secondary phases and porosity which can be expected to affect reaction with slag. Such reactions are examined in Part II.National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant TP2011070800005).http://link.springer.com/journal/116632016-04-30hb201

Study of charmonia in four-meson final states produced in two-photon collisions

We report measurements of charmonia produced in two-photon collisions and decaying to four-meson final states, where the meson is either a charged pion or a charged kaon. The analysis is based on a 395fb^{-1} data sample accumulated with the Belle detector at the KEKB electron-positron collider. We observe signals for the three C-even charmonia eta_c(1S), chi_{c0}(1P) and chi_{c2}(1P) in the pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^-, K^+K^-pi^+pi^- and K^+K^-K^+K^- decay modes. No clear signals for eta_c(2S) production are found in these decay modes. We have also studied resonant structures in charmonium decays to two-body intermediate meson resonances. We report the products of the two-photon decay width and the branching fractions, Gamma_{gamma gamma}B, for each of the charmonium decay modes.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figure

Observation of Ds1(2536)+ -> D+pi-K+ and angular decomposition of Ds1(2536)+ -> D*+K0S

Using 462/fb of e+e- annihilation data recorded by the Belle detector, we report the first observation of the decay Ds1(2536)+ -> D+pi-K+. The ratio of branching fractions B(Ds1+ -> D+pi-K+)/B(Ds1+ -> D*+K0) is measured to be (3.27+-0.18+-0.37)%. We also study the angular distributions in the Ds1(2536)+ -> D*+K0S decay and measure the ratio of D- and S-wave amplitudes. The S-wave dominates, with a partial width of Gamma_S/Gamma_total=0.72+-0.05+-0.01.Comment: Submitted to Phys.Rev.D 16 pages, 6 figures, 3 table

Improved measurement of CP-violating parameters in rho+rho- decays

We present a measurement of the CP-violating asymmetry in rho+rho- decays using 535 million BBbar pairs collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB e+e- collider. We measure CP-violating coefficients A = 0.16 +- 0.21(stat) +- 0.07 (syst) and S = 0.19 +- 0.30(stat) +- 0.07 (syst}. These values are used to determine the unitarity triangle angle phi_2 using an isospin analysis; the solution consistent with Standard Model lies in the range 53 < phi_2 < 114 deg. at 90 C.L.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, presented at JPS/DPF 2006 (Added KEK, BELLE preprint numbers, submitted to PRD(RC)

Search for new charmonium states in the processes e+ e- --> J/psi D(*) D(*) at sqrt{s} ~ 10.6 GeV

We present a study of the X(3940) state in the process e+e- -> J/psi D* Dbar. The X(3940) mass and width are measured to be (3942 +7 -6 +- 6)MeV/c^2 and Gamma=(37 + 26 - 15 +- 8 MeV. In the process e+e- -> J/psi D* D*bar we have observed another charmonium-like state, which we denote as X(4160), in the spectrum of invariant masses of D*+ D*- combinations. The X(4160) parameters are M= 4156 + 25 - 20 +- 15 MeV/c^2 and Gamma = 139 + 111 -61 +- 21 MeV. The analysis is based on a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 693 /fb recorded near the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB e+ e- asymmetric-energy collider.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures Contribution paper for conferences EPS2007 and Lepton Photon 2007, Belle-Conference-070

Search for \bar{B}^0\to\Lambda_c^+\bar{\Lambda}_c^- decay at Belle

We search for the doubly charmed baryonic decay $\bar{B}^0\to\Lambda_c^+\bar{\Lambda}_c^-$, in a data sample of $520\times10^6$ $B{\bar B}$ events accumulated at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e^+e^- collider. We find no significant signal and set an upper limit of ${\cal B}(\bar{B}^0\to\Lambda_c^+\bar{\Lambda}_c^-)<6.2\times10^{-5}$ at 90% confidence level. The result is significantly below a naive extrapolation from ${\cal B}(B^-\to\Xi_c^0\bar{\Lambda}_c^)$ assuming a simple Cabibbo-suppression factor of $|V_{cd}/V_{cs}|^2$. The small branching fraction could be attributed to a suppression due to the large momentum of the baryonic decay products, which has been observed in other charmed baryonic two-body B decays. trend observed in other charmed baryonic two-body B decays.Comment: 12 page, 5 figures. Contribution paper for conferences EPS2007 and Lepton Photon 2007, Belle-Conference-070