In a combined study of the decay spectra of $tau^-to K_Spi^- u_tau$ and $tau^-to K^-eta u_tau$ decays within a dispersive representation of the required form factors, we illustrate how the $K^*(1410)$ resonance parameters, defined through the pole po
sition in the complex plane, can be extracted with improved precision as compared to previous studies. While we obtain a substantial improvement in the mass, the uncertainty in the width is only slightly reduced, with the findings $M_{K^{*prime}}=1304 pm 17,$MeV and $Gamma_{K^{*prime}} = 171 pm 62,$MeV. Further constraints on the width could result from updated analyses of the $Kpi$ and/or $Keta$ spectra using the full Belle-I data sample. Prospects for Belle-II are also discussed. As the $K^-pi^0$ vector form factor enters the description of the decay $tau^-to K^-eta u_tau$, we are in a position to investigate isospin violations in its parameters like the form factor slopes. In this respect also making available the spectrum of the transition $tau^-to K^-pi^0 u_tau$ would be extremely useful, as it would allow to study those isospin violations with much higher precision.
The rate evolution of subluminous Type Ia Supernovae is presented using data from the Supernova Legacy Survey. This sub-sample represents the faint and rapidly-declining light-curves of the observed supernova Ia (SN Ia) population here defined by low
stretch values (s<0.8). Up to redshift z=0.6, we find 18 photometrically-identified subluminous SNe Ia, of which six have spectroscopic redshift (and three are spectroscopically-confirmed SNe Ia). The evolution of the subluminous volumetric rate is constant or slightly decreasing with redshift, in contrast to the increasing SN Ia rate found for the normal stretch population, although a rising behaviour is not conclusively ruled out. The subluminous sample is mainly found in early-type galaxies with little or no star formation, so that the rate evolution is consistent with a galactic mass dependent behavior: $r(z)=Atimes M_g$, with $A=(1.1pm0.3)times10^{-14}$ SNe per year and solar mass.
The water-graphite interaction potential proposed recently (Gonzalez et al.emph{J. Phys. Chem. C} textbf{2007}, emph{111}, 14862), the three TIP$N$P ($N=3,:4,:5$) water-water interaction models, and basin-hopping global optimization are used to find
the likely candidates for the global potential energy minima of (H$_{2}$O)$_{n}$ clusters with $nleq21$ on the (0001)-surface of graphite and to perform a comparative study of these minima. We show that, except for the smaller clusters ($n<6$), for which ab-initio results are available, the three water-water potential models provide mostly inequivalent conformations. While TIP3P seems to favor monolayer water structures for $n<18$, TIP4P and TIP5P favor bilayer or volume structures for $n>6$. These $n$ values determine the threshold of dominance of the hydrophobic nature of the water-graphite interaction at the nanoscopic scale for these potential models.
