HEPA respirators and tuberculosis in hospital workers

Adal et al. (July 21 issue)1 demonstrate that at the University of Virginia Hospital, where the incidence of tuberculosis is low, the infection controls already instituted may be sufficient and the cost of adding respirators with high-efficiency particulate air filters (HEPA respirators) for their 3852 workers is impressively high. The situation is different at our hospital, Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in South Bronx, New York. In contrast to their figure of 11 patients with documented tuberculosis per year, we have over 160 such patients per year, of whom approximately 30 percent have multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Measurement of single pi0 production in neutral current neutrino interactions with water by a 1.3 GeV wide band muon neutrino beam

Neutral current single pi0 production induced by neutrinos with a mean energy of 1.3 GeV is measured at a 1000 ton water Cherenkov detector as a near detector of the K2K long baseline neutrino experiment. The cross section for this process relative to the total charged current cross section is measured to be 0.064 +- 0.001 (stat.) +- 0.007 (sys.). The momentum distribution of produced pi0s is measured and is found to be in good agreement with an expectation from the present knowledge of the neutrino cross sections.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to Phys. Lett.

Calibration of Super-Kamiokande Using an Electron Linac

In order to calibrate the Super-Kamiokande experiment for solar neutrino measurements, a linear accelerator (LINAC) for electrons was installed at the detector. LINAC data were taken at various positions in the detector volume, tracking the detector response in the variables relevant to solar neutrino analysis. In particular, the absolute energy scale is now known with less than 1 percent uncertainty.Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, Submitted to NIM

Measurement of radon concentrations at Super-Kamiokande

Radioactivity from radon is a major background for observing solar neutrinos at Super-Kamiokande. In this paper, we describe the measurement of radon concentrations at Super-Kamiokande, the method of radon reduction, and the radon monitoring system. The measurement shows that the current low-energy event rate between 5.0 MeV and 6.5 MeV implies a radon concentration in the Super-Kamiokande water of less than 1.4 mBq/m$^3$.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Search for Neutral Q-balls in Super-Kamiokande II

A search for Q-balls induced groups of successive contained events has been carried out in Super-Kamiokande II with 541.7 days of live time. Neutral Q-balls would emit pions when colliding with nuclei, generating a signal of successive contained pion events along a track. No candidate for successive contained event groups has been found in Super-Kamiokande II, so upper limits on the possible flux of such Q-balls have been obtained.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to Phys. Lett.

Evidence for muon neutrino oscillation in an accelerator-based experiment

We present results for muon neutrino oscillation in the KEK to Kamioka (K2K) long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. K2K uses an accelerator-produced muon neutrino beam with a mean energy of 1.3 GeV directed at the Super-Kamiokande detector. We observed the energy dependent disappearance of muon neutrino, which we presume have oscillated to tau neutrino. The probability that we would observe these results if there is no neutrino oscillation is 0.0050% (4.0 sigma).Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Measurement of νˉμ\bar{\nu}_{\mu} and νμ\nu_{\mu} charged current inclusive cross sections and their ratio with the T2K off-axis near detector

We report a measurement of cross section $\sigma(\nu_{\mu}+{\rm nucleus}\rightarrow\mu^{-}+X)$ and the first measurements of the cross section $\sigma(\bar{\nu}_{\mu}+{\rm nucleus}\rightarrow\mu^{+}+X)$ and their ratio $R(\frac{\sigma(\bar \nu)}{\sigma(\nu)})$ at (anti-)neutrino energies below 1.5 GeV. We determine the single momentum bin cross section measurements, averaged over the T2K $\bar{\nu}/\nu$-flux, for the detector target material (mainly Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen and Copper) with phase space restricted laboratory frame kinematics of $\theta_{\mu}$500 MeV/c. The results are $\sigma(\bar{\nu})=\left( 0.900\pm0.029{\rm (stat.)}\pm0.088{\rm (syst.)}\right)\times10^{-39}$ and $\sigma(\nu)=\left( 2.41\ \pm0.022{\rm{(stat.)}}\pm0.231{\rm (syst.)}\ \right)\times10^{-39}$in units of cm$^{2}$/nucleon and$R\left(\frac{\sigma(\bar{\nu})}{\sigma(\nu)}\right)= 0.373\pm0.012{\rm (stat.)}\pm0.015{\rm (syst.)}$.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Linking Distributive and Procedural Justice to Employee Engagement Through Social Exchange: A Field Study in India

Research linking justice perceptions to employee outcomes has referred to social exchange as its central theoretical premise. We tested a conceptual model linking distributive and procedural justice to employee engagement through social exchange mediators, namely, perceived organizational support and psychological contract, among 238 managers and executives from manufacturing and service sector firms in India. Findings suggest that perceived organizational support mediated the relationship between distributive justice and employee engagement, and both perceived organizational support and psychological contract mediated the relationship between procedural justice and employee engagement. Theoretical and practical implications with respect to organizational functions are discussed

Search for Lorentz and CPT violation using sidereal time dependence of neutrino flavor transitions over a short baseline

A class of extensions of the Standard Model allows Lorentz and CPT violations, which can be identified by the observation of sidereal modulations in the neutrino interaction rate. A search for such modulations was performed using the T2K on-axis near detector. Two complementary methods were used in this study, both of which resulted in no evidence of a signal. Limits on associated Lorentz and CPT-violating terms from the Standard Model extension have been derived by taking into account their correlations in this model for the first time. These results imply such symmetry violations are suppressed by a factor of more than 10 20 at the GeV scale