Development of Bubble Chambers With Enhanced Stability and Sensitivity to Low-Energy Nuclear Recoils

The viability of using a Bubble Chamber for rare event searches and in particular for the detection of dark matter particle candidates is considered. Techniques leading to the deactivation of inhomogeneous nucleation centers and subsequent enhanced stability in such a detector are described. Results from prototype trials indicate that sensitivity to low-energy nuclear recoils like those expected from Weakly Interacting Massive Particles can be obtained in conditions of near total insensitivity to minimum ionizing backgrounds. An understanding of the response of superheated heavy refrigerants to these recoils is demonstrated within the context of existing theoretical models. We comment on the prospects for the detection of supersymmetric dark matter particles with a large $CF_{3}I$ chamber.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Challenges in Storying a Musical Lifeworld: A Commentary

One of the major shifts in music education research over the past decade or so has been the emergence of a diverse range of studies that makes full use of available qualitative research methodologies. This trend has emerged alongside an increased awareness and confidence among music education researchers to engage in qualitative approaches that have been relatively mainstream in the wider world of educational research, but which were relatively slow to be adopted by the world of music education - at least in its published journals. Furthermore, this expanded perspective on research methods within music education has been part of a much wider interest in the use of educational research data to inform the actions of national and local government policy makers as they engage with educational reform, often badged under the umbrella of evidence-based or research-based practice (e.g., Davies, 1999; Oakley, 2002; Oakley, Gough, Oliver&Thomas, 2005