The OPERA experiment

OPERA is a neutrino oscillation experiment designed to perform a nu\_tau appearance search at long distance in the future CNGS beam from CERN to Gran Sasso. It is based on the nuclear emulsion technique to distinguish among the neutrino interaction products the track of a tau produced by a nu\_tau and its decay tracks. The OPERA detector is presently under construction in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory, 730 km from CERN, and will receive its first neutrinos in 2006. The experimental technique is reviewed and the development of the project described. Foreseen performances in measuring nu\_tau appearance and also in searching for nu\_e appearance are discussed

Light hadrons in 2+1 flavor lattice QCD

This talk will focus on recent results by the MILC collaboration from simulations of light hadrons in 2+1 flavor lattice QCD. We have achieved high precision results in the pseudoscalar sector, including masses and decay constants, plus quark masses and Gasser-Leutwyler parameters from well controlled chiral perturbation theory fits to our data. We also show spectroscopy results for vector mesons and baryons.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the First Meeting of the APS Topical Group on Hadronic Physics, Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois, Oct. 24-26, 200

Identified Particle Production in d+Au and p+p collisions at RHIC

The BRAHMS experiment at RHIC has measured the transverse momentum spectra of charged pions, kaons and (anti-)protons over a wide range of rapidity in d+Au and p+p collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$GeV. The nuclear modification factor $R_{dAu}$ at forward rapidities shows a clear suppression for $\pi^{+}$. The measured net-proton yields in p+p collisions are compared to PYTHIA and HIJING/B and seem to be better described by the latter.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, presented at the 19th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, "Quark Matter 2006", Shanghai, China, November 14-20, 2006. to appear in the proceedings of Quark Matter 2006 as a special issue of Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physic

The Incidence of Magnetic Fields in Massive Stars: An Overview of the MiMeS Survey Component

With only a handful of known magnetic massive stars, there is a troubling deficit in the scope of our knowledge of the influence of magnetic fields on stellar evolution, and almost no empirical basis for understanding how fields modify mass loss and rotation in massive stars. Most remarkably, there is still no solid consensus regarding the origin physics of these fields - whether they are fossil remnants, or produced by contemporaneous dynamos, or some combination of these mechanisms. This article will present an overview of the Survey Component of the MiMeS Large Programs, the primary goal of which is to search for Zeeman signatures in the circular polarimetry of massive stars (stars with spectral types B3 and hotter) that were previously unknown to host any magnetic field. To date, the MiMeS collaboration has collected more than 550 high-resolution spectropolarimetric observations with ESPaDOnS and Narval of nearly 170 different stars, from which we have discovered 14 new magnetic stars.Comment: 7 pages (+1 for questions), 3 figures, to appear in proceedings of Stellar polarimetry: From birth to deat

Bridging the digital divide for hard-to-reach groups

Boeltzig and Pilling identified specific groups of people who typically are not connected to the Internet and examined the circumstances of each - rural, poor, disabled, seniors, and ethnic minorities. They focused on how these groups of people, such as homebound individuals, could benefit most from using online government services. They also identified technical as well as social barriers that limit access. Their recommendations are aimed at both increasing access for these targeted groups and increasing use by individuals in the targeted groups. They also provide valuable recommendations aimed at service or application providers who have a major role in increasing both access and accessibility. The case studies resulted in insights and lessons that are broadly applicable. Based on the case studies, the authors offer recommendations that are practical and serve as useful guides to practitioners and policy makers at all levels of government