Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Development and Test of World's First Industrial High-Temperature Superconducting (HTS) Power Cable

Southwire Company has installed the world's first industrial high-temperature superconducting cable system to power three of its main manufacturing plants. The cable consists of three single-phase, 30-m long cables designed to carry 1250 A at 12.4 kV. The cable is cooled by a liquid nitrogen (LN) system that can supply LN at sub-cooled temperatures down to 72 K and at pressures up to 15 atmospheres. The design of the 30-m cables is based upon two 5-m cable prototypes, which were tested at a specially developed facility at ORNL. In addition to critical current and ac loss measurements, simulated fault-current tests were performed at ORNL on the 5-m cables. Cable terminations were designed to allow smooth transition from the cryogenic temperature and pressure environment of the HTS cable to ambient temperature and pressure for copper cables. A dielectric tape material, Cryoflex(trademark), was also developed for use at cryogenic temperatures

Ground stability analysis for mining by sub-level caving method above an existing cut-and-fill stope - a case study

In Rajpura Dariba mine, the presence of ancient workings posed problems for mining the orebody at shallow depth. Under this condition, it was not possible to continue with the existing cut and fill method. In view of these, sub-level caving method was proposed for mining the orebody. The mining would be done above the existing cut and fill stopes, without leaving any crown pillar. As the extractable height of the orebody was 40 m, it was proposed to devide the orebody in four blocks, each 10 m in height. The numerical model analysis has revealed that the stoping can be done safely, if the lag between each block is kept 4 m and a diagonal line of face extraction is maintained. But if the lag is increased to 8 m, the stability of the bottom-most block may be endangered. Under this condition, the tensile stress that would develop near the contact of the bottom-most block and the block immediately above this may lead to failure

Relationships between stem cells and cancer stem cells

Stem cells have been shown to exist in a variety of tissues. Recent studies have characterized stem cell gene expression patterns, phenotypes, and potential therapeutic uses. One of the most important properties of stem cells is that of self renewal. This raises the possibility that some of the clinical properties of human tumors may be due to transformed stem cells. Similar signaling pathways may regulate self renewal in normal and transformed stem cells. These rare transformed stem cells may drive the process of tumorigenesis due to their potential for self renewal. There are important ramifications for clinical cancer treatment if the growth of solid tumors is at least partially dependent on a cancer stem cell population. In the cancer stem cell model, tumor recurrence may be due to the non-targeted stem cell compartment repopulating the tumor. If cancer stem cells can be prospectively identified and isolated, it should be possible to identify therapies that will selectively target these cells