CP and charge asymmetries at CDF

We present CDF results on the branching fractions and time-integrated direct CP asymmetries for B0 and B0s decay modes into pairs of charmless charged hadrons (pions or kaons). We report also the first observation of B0s->DsK mode and the measurement of its branching fraction.Comment: Proceedings of The 2007 Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics Manchester, England 19-25 July 2007. To be published electronically by IoP Journals. FERMILAB-CONF-07-590-E. Nov 2007. 3p

Measurement of the Masses and Lifetimes of B Hadrons at the Tevatron

The latest results for the B Hadron sector at the Tevatron Collider are summarized. The properties of B Hadrons can be precisely measured at the Tevatron. In particularly we will focus on the masses and lifetimes. The new Tevatron results for the CP violation in B Hadrons will be also discussed.Comment: Proceedings of the 40th Rancontres de Moriond QCD and High Energies Hadronic Interactions 2006, 4 pages, 3 figure

CDF Hot Topics

After an introduction on the peculiarities of flavor-physics measurements at a hadron collider, and on the upgraded Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF II), I show recent results on two-body B0 and B0s decays into charged, pseudo-scalar, charmless mesons or into muons, to illustrate how the flavor physics program at CDF is competitive with (in B0 decays) and complementary (in B0s decays) to B-factories. Results shown include the new measurement of the CP-violating asymmetry in B0-->K+pi- decays, the first measurement of the time-evolution of B0s-->K+K- decays, and the world best limits on the decay rates of rare B0/B0s-->mu+mu- modes.Comment: write-up for the proceedings of the "Flavor Physics & CP Violation Conference, Vancouver, 2006". 9 pages, 10 figures, to be published in the Electronic Conference Proceedings Archiv

CKM Parameters and Rare B Decays

Measurements of the angles and sides of the unitarity triangle and of the rates of rare B meson decays are crucial for the precise determination of Standard Model parameters and are sensitive to the presence of new physics particles in the loop diagrams. In this paper the recent measurements performed in this area by Babar and Belle will be presented. The direct measurement of the angle alpha is for the first time as precise as the indirect determination. The precision of the V_ub determination has improved significantly with respect to previous measurement. New limits on B->tau nu decays are presented, as well as updated measurements on b->s radiative transitions and a new observation of b->d gamma transition made by Belle.Comment: Talk presented at the Lepton-Photon 2005 Symposium, June 30-July 5, Uppsala, Sweden. 14 pages, 13 figure

A Twin Spiral Planar Antenna for UWB Medical Radars

A planar-spiral antenna to be used in an ultrawideband (UWB) radar system for heart activity monitoring is presented. The antenna, named “twin,” is constituted by two spiral dipoles in a compact structure. The reflection coefficient at the feed point of the dipoles is lower than −8 dB over the 3–12 GHz band, while the two-dipoles coupling is about −20 dB. The radiated beam is perpendicular to the plane of the spiral, so the antenna is wearable and it may be an optimal radiator for a medical UWB radar for heart rate detection. The designed antenna has been also used to check some hypotheses about the UWB radar heart activity detection mechanism. The radiation impedance variation, caused by the thorax vibrations associated with heart activity, seems to be the most likely explanation of the UWB radar operation

Economic growth and obesity in South African adults: an ecological analysis between 1994 and 2014

Abstract: To assess the trend associations between South Africa’s economic growth using various economic growth indicators (EGIs) with adult obesity prevalence over a specified period of time. Methods: Data for obesity levels reported was obtained from national surveys conducted in South African adults between the periods of 1994 to 2014. EGIs incorporated in the current analysis were obtained from the World Bank and IHS Global insight databases. Obesity prevalence is presented by gender, urbanisation level and ethnicity. EGIs congruent to the time points where obesity data are available are presented. Unadjusted time trend plots were applied to assess associations between obesity prevalence and EGIs by gender, urbanisation level and ethnicity. Results: Females present higher levels of obesity relative to males for all time points. For both males and females, an overall increase in prevalence was observed in both rural and urban settings over‐time, with urban dwellers presenting higher obesity levels. An overall increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and Household Final Consumption Expenditure (HFCE) per capita was observed. The Gini coefficient for all ethnicities except the white group increased between 1998 and 2003 but declined by 2012

A study on range gated temporal reference acoustical holography Final technical report

Acoustical holographic imaging techniques for noninvasive visualization of soft tissue structures in ma