The VLBA Calibrator Search for the BeSSeL Survey

We present the results of a survey of radio continuum sources near the Galactic plane using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). Our observations are designed to identify compact extragalactic sources of milliarcsecond size that can be used for parallax measurements in the Bar and Spiral Structure Legacy Survey. We selected point sources from the NVSS and CORNISH catalogs with flux densities above 30 mJy and within 1.5\degr of known maser targets. Of the 1529 sources observed, 199 were detected. For sources detected on 3 or more baselines, we determined accurate positions and evaluated their quality as potential calibrators. Most of the 1330 sources that were not detected with the VLBA are probably of extragalactic origin.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables. Table 3 is available on the homepage of the BeSSeL survey: http://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/staff/abrunthaler/BeSSeL/index.shtm

Lifetime Differences in Heavy Mesons With Time Independent Measurements

Heavy meson pairs produced in the decays of heavy quarkonium resonances at e+ e- machines (beauty and tau-charm factories) have the useful property that the two mesons are in the CP-correlated states. By tagging one of the mesons as a CP eigenstate, a lifetime difference of heavy neutral meson mass eigenstates width difference may be determined by measuring the leptonic branching ratio of the other meson. We discuss the use of this and related methods both in the case where time dependent mixing is small and when it is significant. We consider the impact of possible CP-violating effects and present the complete results for CP-entangled decay rates with CP-violation taken into account.Comment: 14 pages, 0 figures; 2 references added, results unchange

The Schwarzschild black hole as a point particle

The description of a point mass in general relativity (GR) is given in the framework of the field formulation of GR where all the dynamical fields, including the gravitational field, are considered in a fixed background spacetime. With the use of stationary (not static) coordinates non-singular at the horizon, the Schwarzschild solution is presented as a point-like field configuration in a whole background Minkowski space. The requirement of a stable $\eta$-causality stated recently in [J.B.Pitts and W.C.Schieve, Found. Phys., v. 34, 211 (2004)] is used essentially as a criterion for testing configurations.Comment: LATEX, 8 pages, no figure

The use of qualitative methods of research of the formation of an effective model of engineering education

The study of aspects of the formation model of engineering education, as well as issues of the choice of the technical professions consisted of indepth group interviews two target audiences, acting as experts: school teachers working in specialized physical and mathematical classes, and high school teachers of technical disciplines. The result of the activity of the two focus groups was the accumulation of expert opinions concerning the efficient interaction between school and University, the transition to project learning, the selection of the applied baccalaureate.Исследование аспектов формирования модели инженерного образования, а также проблематики профессионального выбора технической специальности заклю-чалось в глубинном групповом интервьюировании двух целевых аудиторий, выступающих в роли экспертов: школьных учителей, работающих в профильных физико-математических классах, а также вузовских преподавателей технических дисциплин. Результатом деятельности двух фокус-групп явилась аккумуляция экспертных мнений, касающихся возможностей эффективного взаимодействия школы и вуза, перехода на проектную форму обучения, выделения прикладного бакалавриата

Choice of the technical specialty in the context of the life planning school graduates (or who's going techies?)

Элитное («немассовое») техническое образование, сохранившее, по мнению абитуриентов, свою глубину и свое качество (в отличие от «массового» нетехнического), трансформируется в инструментальную ценность-средство, связанную с приобретением в техническом вузе реальных возможностей для успешного карьерного роста и положительной социальной мобильности в различных (в том числе и нетехнических) областях.Elite («nomass») technical education, preserved, according to the applicants, its depth and its quality (in contrast to the «mass» non-technical), is transformed into the instrumental value-tool associated with the acquisition of the technical University of the real possibilities for successful career growth and positive social mobility in various (including non-technical) areas.Статья подготовлена в рамках проекта «Новые модели инженерного образования как фактор воспроизводства технической элиты индустриального региона» № 13-06-00610, поддержанного РФФ