Recent Results from the MINOS experiment

MINOS is an accelerator neutrino oscillation experiment at Fermilab. An intense high energy neutrino beam is produced at Fermilab and sent to a near detector on the Fermilab site and also to a 5 kTon far detector 735 km away in the Soudan mine in northern Minnesota. The experiment has now had several years of running with millions of events in the near detector and hundreds of events recorded in the far detector. I will report on the recent results from this experiment which include precise measurement of $|\Delta m^2_{32}|$, ~analysis of neutral current data to limit the component of sterile neutrinos, and the search for $\nu_\mu \to \nu_e$ conversion. The focus will be on the analysis of data for $\nu_\mu \to \nu_e$ conversion. Using data from an exposure of $3.14\times 10^{20}$ protons on target, we have selected electron type events in both the near and the far detector. The near detector is used to measure the background which is extrapolated to the far detector. We have found 35 events in the signal region with a background expectation of $27\pm 5(stat)\pm 2(syst)$. Using this observation we set a 90% C.L. limit of $\sin^2 2 \theta_{13} < 0.29$ for $\delta_{cp} = 0$ and normal mass hierarchy. Further analysis is under way to reduce backgrounds and improve sensitivity.Comment: This was prepared for the proceedings of the XIII International Workshop on Neutrino Telescopes at the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in Venice, Italy held on March 10-13, 2009. The presentation was on behalf of the MINOS collaboratio

Household survey of injuries in a Kenyan District

Objective: To determine the pattern and burden of injuries, their causes and action taken in a rural and urban community in Kenya.Design: Household interview survey and focus group discussions.Setting: Four rural villages and five urban clusters in Kiambu District, Kenya.Subjects: A total of 1,980 members of 200 rural and 230 urban households.Results: The number of reported injuries was 495, corresponding to 300,000 injuries per 100,000 people per year. Most common were cut or piercing (38.4%), followed by fall (16.2%), burn or scald (14.3%), animal bite or kick (10.1%), hit by moving object (5.9%) androad traffic accident (3.6%). Poisoning, sub-mersion/drowning and explosion were uncommon, each below three per cent. Of all reported injuries, 149 (30.1%) sought care from traditional healers, 91 (18.4%) were subject to self-care, 76 (15.4%) obtained service from drug shops, 22 (4.4%) were brought to a health facility for attention and 17 (3.4%) took no action at all. Additional information was obtained through focus group discussions with students, teachersand members of women groups. These generated detailed information about cases of sexual assault within and outside households which had not been captured during the previous household interviews.Conclusion: Injuries are very common but most of them are mild, prompting only home care or no action at all. Only one out of 25 injuries were brought to a health facility for attention. Some types of injury, such as domestic violence and sexual assault, are more likely to becaptured through focus group discussions than during household interviews. A combination of methods is likely to best reflect the pattern of injury at community level

Effect of salinity stress on neurosecretory cells, protein and free amino acid content and rate of ammonia excretion of the prawn Penaeus indicus H Milne Edwards

Stress induced changes resulting from salinity exposure are sought in the neurosecretory cells of different neuroendocrine centres, in protein and free amino acid content in haemolymph, muscle. and hepatopancreas, and in rale of ammonia excretion in the prawn Penaeusindicus. Prawns acclimated to low saline medium (S . 10%0) when uansferred to rugh saline medium (5 .. 4Q%.o) showed liule change in their neurosecrelOry cell histologY'. However, protein and free amino acid content in haemolymph. muscle. and hepatopancreas increased considerably. Simultaneously, the rate of ammonia excretion was reduced. Prawns acclimated 10 high salinity medium when transferred 10 low salinity exhibited changes in the above parameters in reverse to those findings in the former experiment. The probable reasons for such changes are discussed

Artificial insemination studies in Macrobrachium idella (Hilgendorf, 1898)

A simple method for artificial insemination of Macrobrachium idella has been developed. Observations on virili ty in different size groups of males have been reported. The insemination procedu re involved extrusion of spermatophores by electrical stimulus and attachment of sperm mass at the receptive area of newly moulted normal and eye ablated females. Manually placed spermatophorcs were retained through spawning. Fertilization was obtained and eggs fertilized in this way, hatched to normal healthy larvae. The exact lime for placement of spermatophores after the pre-spawning moult of female has been worked oul. Further successful spawning could be obse rved for more than one female simultaneously by using whole sperm mass of a single male. Freshly extruded spermalophores and those stored in refrigerated condition (6°q for different lime duration have al so been used in inseminating females artificially with good success

Status of the MINOS experiment

I will present the status of the long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment MINOS at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). I will summarize the status of the detector and beam construction, the expected event rates and sensitivity to physics. I will also comment on possible future plans to improve the performance of the experiment.Comment: Invited talk at the Seventh International Workshop on Tau Lepton Physics (TAU02), Santa Cruz, Ca, USA, Sept 2002, 7 pages, 6 figures, LaTeX Higher res figures at http://minos.phy.bnl.gov/~diwan/tau02_th08.p