Measurements of CP Violation, Mixing and Lifetimes of B Mesons with the BaBar Detector

We report the observation of CP violation in the $B^0$ meson system. Using a novel technique for time-dependent measurements, we measure a non-zero value for the CP-violating amplitude $\sin 2\beta$ at the 4.1 $\sigma$ level. We also report on precision measurements of the $B^+$ and $B^0$ lifetimes and the $B^0\bar{B}^0$ mixing frequency $\Delta m_d$ obtained with the same technique and on a first measurement of the time-dependent CP-violating amplitude in $B^0\to \pi^+\pi^-$ decays.Comment: 14 pages, 9 postscript figues, submitted to 9th International Symposium of Heavy Flavor Physic

AN ECONOMIC MODEL OF WIC, THE INFANT FORMULA REBATE PROGRAM, AND THE RETAIL PRICE OF INFANT FORMULA

This report develops an economic model that provides the theoretical framework for the econometric analyses presented in the report's companion volume, WIC and the Retail Price of Infant Formula (FANRR-39). The model examines supermarket retail prices for infant formula in a local market area, and identifies the theoretical effects of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and its infant formula rebate program. Special attention is given to the rebate program's sole-source procurement system by which a single manufacturer becomes a State's "contract brand"-the State's one supplier of formula to WIC infants-in exchange for paying rebates to WIC. When a manufacturer's brand is designated a State's contract brand, the model predicts that supermarkets increase that brand's retail price. The model also predicts that an increase in the ratio of WIC to non-WIC formula-fed infants in a local market results in an increase in the price of the contract brand and, through demand substitution, a relatively small price increase for noncontract brands.WIC program, infant formula, cost containment, rebates, food package costs, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, Children, child nutrition, food assistance, Food Security and Poverty,

Late quaternary time series of Arabian Sea productivity: Global and regional signals

Modern annual floral and faunal production in the northwest Arabian Sea derives primarily from upwelling induced by strong southwest winds during June, July, and August. Indian Ocean summer monsoon winds are, in turn, driven by differential heating between the Asian continent and the Indian ocean to the south. This differential heating produces a strong pressure gradient resulting in southwest monsoon winds and both coastal and divergent upwelling off the Arabian Peninsula. Over geologic time scales (10(exp 4) to 10(exp 6) years), monsoon wind strength is sensitive to changes in boundary conditions which influence this pressure gradient. Important boundary conditions include the seasonal distribution of solar radiation, global ice volume, Indian Ocean sea surface temperature, and the elevation and albedo of the Asian continent. To the extent that these factors influence monsoon wind strength, they also influence upwelling and productivity. In addition, however, productivity associated with upwelling can be decoupled from the strength of the summer monsoon winds via ocean mechanisms which serve to inhibit or enhance the nutrient supply in the intermediate waters of the Indian Ocean, the source for upwelled waters in the Arabian Sea. To differentiate productivity associated with wind-induced upwelling from that associated with other components of the system such as nutrient sequestering in glacial-age deep waters, we employ a strategy which monitors independent components of the oceanic and atmospheric subsystems. Using sediment records from the Owen Ridge, northwest Arabian Sea, we monitor the strength of upwelling and productivity using two independent indicators, percent G. bulloides and opal accumulation. We monitor the strength of southwest monsoon winds by measuring the grain-size of lithogenic dust particles blown into the Arabian Sea from the surrounding deserts of the Somali and Arabian Peninsulas. Our current hypothesis is that the variability associated with the 41 kyr power in the G. bulloides and opal accumulation records derive from nutrient availability in the intermediate waters which are upwelled via monsoon winds. This hypothesis is testable by comparison with Cd records of intermediate and deep waters of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean

Rethinking the Social Construction of Technology Through 'Following the Actors': A Reappraisal of Technological Frames

In this paper, I summarize case study research on an information system called Connected Kids. This case study was guided by an approach to technology studies called the \'Social construction of technology\' or SCOT Bijker (1984). In discussing Connected Kids, I illustrate many of SCOT\'s main tenents, e.g. the various social interactions that surround and influence technology design. As the paper progresses, however, I focus on one concept in particular, i.e. SCOT\'s notion of a \'technological frame,\' which is used as a catch-all concept for handling the structural influences in technology design. My discussion and illustration of this concept shows that – whilst technological frames help an analyst understand, in general terms, the role structure(s) play in shaping technology – the \'heterogeneity\' of technological frames can cloak the more obvious, and potentially most influential, forces at work in technology design. In the case of Connected kids, the role of resources, and which actors had access to these resources, was critical in pointing Connected Kids down a particular trajectory. Further, this discovery emerged from listening carefully to respondents\' comments on the role of resources in their community. These comments, and my own observations on how resource-access propelled certain actors into a leadership position, led to my developing an alternative method for analyzing technological frames. The implications of this analysis are then discussed within the context of SCOT and technology studies more generally.Social Construction of Technology, Technological Frames, Information Technology

WIC AND THE RETAIL PRICE OF INFANT FORMULA

Rebates from infant formula manufacturers to State agencies that administer the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) support over one-quarter of all WIC participants. However, concerns have been raised that WIC and its infant formula rebate program may significantly affect the infant formula prices faced by non-WIC consumers. This report presents findings from the most comprehensive national study of infant formula prices at the retail level. For a given set of wholesale prices, WIC and its infant formula rebate program resulted in modest increases in the supermarket price of infant formula, especially in States with a high percentage of WIC formula-fed infants. However, lower priced infant formulas are available to non-WIC consumers in most areas of the country, and the number of these lower priced alternatives is increasing over time.WIC program, infant formula, cost-containment, rebates, food package costs, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, child nutrition, food assistance, Food Security and Poverty,

Remembering the Gulag in post-Soviet Magadan

This essay explores the relationship between place and memory in the former Gulag periphery of Magadan in northeastern Russia. Located on the coast of the Okhotsk Sea, the city of Magadan emerged as a gateway to the sparsely populated region after the discovery of gold in the late 1920s. Today, a huge monument, the Mask of Sorrow, raised upon a hill on the margin of the city, commemorates the hundreds of thousands of prison- ers who were shipped to Magadan during the dictatorship of Stalin to work in the region’s newly established gold mines. Crucial to the region’s development was the construction of the legendary Kolyma Road between the port of Magadan and the industrial areas at the up- per Kolyma River. Built by prisoners under the most adverse conditions, this road is often referred to as ‘Road of Bones’. This essay demonstrates how the Mask of Sorrow and the Kolyma Road, during particular commemorative events, participate in the enactment of a historical landscape that bears the potential for a ritual return of the victims of the Gulag

Ghetto Girls, Jewish Mothers, Princess Daughters: The Issue of Gender for American Jews

A lecture by Dr. Riv Ellen Prell, Professor [of] American Studies, Jewish Studies & Women\u27s Studies, University of Minnesota.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/bennettcenter-posters/1205/thumbnail.jp