Charmonium Decay Physics

Recent experimental results on the decays of charmonium, together with related physics issues, are reviewed. Some future prospects are described.Comment: 8 pages, latex, no figures. Invited talk at the 8th International Conference on Hadron Spectroscopy (Hadron99), Beijing, 24-28 august, 1999; to appear in Proceeding

The sensorium at work: the sensory phenomenology of the working body

The sociology of the body and the sociology of work and occupations have both neglected to some extent the study of the ‘working body’ in paid employment, particularly with regard to empirical research into the sensory aspects of working practices. This gap is perhaps surprising given how strongly the sensory dimension features in much of working life. This article is very much a first step in calling for a more phenomenological, embodied and ‘fleshy’ perspective on the body in employment, and examines some of the theoretical and conceptual resources available to researchers wishing to focus on the lived working-body experiences of the sensorium. We also consider some possible representational forms for a more evocative, phenomenologically-inspired portrayal of sensory, lived-working-body experiences, and offer suggestions for future avenues of research

Towards an agile participatory urban soundscape planning framework

This paper presents an agile participatory urban soundscape planning process model, which is proposed as a prerequisite on which to build and reference the efficacy of urban soundscape planning. The model was developed through data synthesis and analysis and mapping engagement with diverse stakeholders across four applied soundscape projects in Brighton and Hove, UK. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the model is the first of its kind in applied soundscape practice. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and document analysis of published resources. The framework used for the analysis of the findings comprised four core urban planning stages: goals and objectives, engagement (e.g. prediction/modelling/design/planning), implications, evaluation. The study found that when integrating soundscape planning with core urban planning stages it was necessary to first identify the appropriate stakeholders in relation to the project context. It was found that these stakeholders could be wide-ranging and unexpected, thereby reinforcing the appropriateness of incorporating an agile approach in the resulting model. The study also found that users’ perceptions are central to soundscape practice and need to be considered at each stage of a planning process to produce an effective and sustainable outcome. A variety of specific events, appropriate to the requirements of the stakeholders, are important for engaging planning authorities, users and other stakeholders at different stages. This study also demonstrated that an evidence-based evaluation method is recommended in an agile participatory urban soundscape planning process to assess stakeholders’ engagement at each stage and to inform and guide subsequent steps in the planning process relevant to the local context(s)

Role of Glass Composition on Mechanical Properties of Shape Memory Alloy-Metallic Glass Composites

In this work, the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was applied to design a laminated composite structure comprised of the shape memory alloy (SMA) and Cu-Zr metallic glasses (MGs). A wide range of MG compositions was considered to tune the mechanical features and improve the homogenous plastic deformation during the tension loading. The results indicated that the martensitic transformation in the SMA inhibited the sudden shear band propagation in the composite for all the samples. Moreover, it was revealed that the mechanism of plasticity was significantly affected by the change of MG composition. In the Cu-rich MGs, the formation and propagation of thick shear bands occurred at the end of the tension loading; however, the increase in Zr content induced the interaction of multiple shear bands with finer configurations in the system. Nevertheless, the excessive Zr addition in the MG composition facilitated the aggregation of nanopores at the interface of SMA and MGs, which may be due to the softening effect in the Zr-rich MGs. Finally, it is concluded that an optimized MG composition is required for the trade-off between the plasticity and the strength in the SMA-MG composites