The focus of this study was three fold. First, modeling and feedback were investigated as a training package for social interactions between siblings. Second, the effects of social phrases taught to the sibling with autism were investigated. Third, the magnitude of these social phrases was measured by timing duration of parallel play. The experimental design is an A-B-A1-A2 design conducted in a clinic, with a probe for generalization in the home environment. This intervention was replicated across an additional sibling dyad to indicate its effectiveness. This study ascertained that the sibling with autism was a viable participant in learning new social skills that could function as a behavioral cusp and increase sibling interactions.

We study the behavior of charged particles produced in association with Drell-Yan lepton-pairs in the region of the Z-boson in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.96 TeV. We use the direction of the Z-boson in each event to define 'toward', 'away', and 'transverse' regions. For Drell-Yan production (excluding the leptons) both the 'toward' and 'transverse' regions are very sensitive to the 'underlying event', which is defined as everything except the two hard scattered components. The data are corrected to the particle level and are then compared with several PYTHIA models (with multiple parton interactions) and HERWIG (without multiple parton interactions) at the particle level (i.e. generator level). The data are also compared with a previous analysis on the behavior of the 'underlying event' in high transverse momentum jet production. The goal is to produce data that can be used by the theorists to tune and improve the QCD Monte-Carlo models of the 'underlying event' that are used to simulate hadron-hadron collisions.

The Mini-Booster neutrino experiment (MiniBooNE) at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) is designed to search for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} appearance neutrino oscillations. Muon neutrino charged-current quasi-elastic (CCQE) interactions ({nu}{sub {mu}} + n {yields} {mu} + p) make up roughly 40% of our data sample, and it is used to constrain the background and cross sections for the oscillation analysis. Using high-statistics MiniBooNE CCQE data, the muon-neutrino CCQE cross section is measured. The nuclear model is tuned precisely using the MiniBooNE data. The measured total cross section is {sigma} = (1.058 {+-} 0.003 (stat) {+-} 0.111 (syst)) x 10{sup -38} cm{sup 2} at the MiniBooNE muon neutrino beam energy (700-800 MeV). {nu}{sub e} appearance candidate data is also used to search for Lorentz violation. Lorentz symmetry is one of the most fundamental symmetries in modern physics. Neutrino oscillations offer a new method to test it. We found that the MiniBooNE result is not well-described using Lorentz violation, however further investigation is required for a more conclusive result.

In a universe dominated by matter, the source of CP violation may explain one of the greatest mysteries in particle physics: what happened to the antimatter? The Standard Model successfully describes CP violation in the B{sup +} and B{sub d}{sup 0} systems, yet insufficiently accounts for the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry. The Standard Model predicts a small value of CP violation in the B{sub s}{sup 0} meson system, which has only recently been experimentally tested. A measurement of large, anomalous CP violation in the B{sub s}{sup 0} system would be a clear indication of new physics sources beyond the Standard Model. This dissertation describes a study of CP violation in approximately 2000 B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} J/{psi}{phi} decays reconstructed in a 2.8 fb{sup -1} data sample collected by the D0 Run II detector at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. This data was provided by p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV delivered by the Tevatron accelerator between April 2002 and August 2007. Flavor-tagged B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} J/{psi}({mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -}){phi}(K{sup +}K{sup -}) decays and an angular analysis are used to study the time evolution of the final state angular distributions. From this analysis, we measure the width difference …

We report results from a search for neutral Higgs bosons decaying to tau pairs produced in association with a b-quark in 1.6 fb{sup -1} of data taken from June 2006 to March 2008 with the D0 detector at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The final state includes a muon, hadronically decaying tau, and jet identified as coming from a b-quark. We set cross section times branching ratio limits on production of such neutral Higgs bosons {phi} in the mass range from 90 GeV to 160 GeV. Exclusion limits are set at the 95% Confidence Level for several supersymmetric scenarios.

This dissertation presents a search for large extra dimensions in the single photon plus missing transverse energy final states. We use a data sample of approximately 2.7 fb{sup -1} of p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV (recorded with the D{sup -} detector) to investigate direct Kaluza Klein graviton production and set limits, at the 95% C.L., on the fundamental mass scale M{sub D} from 970 GeV to 816 GeV for two to eight extra dimensions.

We present a search for a narrow resonance in the t{bar b} mass spectrum using 1.9 fb{sup -1} of p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV recorded with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. We select events with a lepton, neutrino candidate, and two or three jets from which to construct the t{bar b} mass. We quantify the result using the model of a massive Standard Model-like charged-boson (W{prime}) decaying to t{bar b}, but we are generally sensitive to the presence of any narrow state decaying to the third generation. For a purely right-handed W{prime} with Standard Model couplings, we set a new limit at 95% confidence of {sigma}(p{bar p} {yields} W{prime}{sub R}) x BR(W{prime}{sub R} {yields} t{bar b}) < 0.28 pb and M{sub W{prime}{sub R}} > 800 GeV/c{sup 2}. The limit increases to M{sub W{prime}{sub R}} > 825 GeV/c{sup 2} if decay to right-handed neutrinos is forbidden. These results are shown in Table 7 and plotted in Figure 7.1. The best prior search found M{sub W{prime}} {ge} 768 GeV/c{sup 2} if leptonic decays are forbidden [16]. For a simple W{prime} model with effective coupling g{sub W{prime}}, the cross-section is proportional to g{sub W{prime}}{sup 4}. Relaxing the …

The field of spintronics offers perspectives for seamless integration of coupled and inter-tunable electrical and magnetic properties in a single device. For integration of the spin degree of freedom with current electronic technology, new semiconductors are needed that show electrically-tunable magnetic properties at room temperature and above. Dilute magnetic semiconductors derived from III-V compounds, like GaMnAs and InMnAs, show coupled and tunable magnetic, transport, and optical properties, due to the fact that their ferromagnetism is hole-mediated. These unconventional materials are ideal systems for manipulating the magnetic order by changing the carrier polarization, population density, and energy band distribution of the complementary subsystem of holes. This is the main theme we cover in this thesis. In particular, we develop a unique setup by use of ultraviolet pump, near-infrared probe femtosecond laser pulses, that allows for magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) spectroscopy experiments. We photo-excite transient carriers in our samples, and measure the induced transient magnetization dynamics. One set of experiments performed allowed us to observe for the first time enhancement of the ferromagnetic order in GaMnAs, on an ultrafast time scale of hundreds of picoseconds. The corresponding transient increase of Curie temperature (Tc, the temperature above which a ferromagnetic material loses its …

The CDF experiment, which uses p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.9 TeV produced at the Fermilab Tevatron, is unique in its ability to observe all flavors of B hadrons and measure their properties. Among them, CP violation is of fundamental interest. In the B{sup +} and B{sup 0} systems, measurements of CP violation parameters performed essentially at B factories have borne out the predictions of CKM model. Little is known, experimentally, about CP violation in the B{sub s}{sup 0} system. The standard model predicts very little CP violation there, thus any nonzero measurement could be an indication of new physics. In this thesis, we will report on the very first flavor-tagged analysis of approximately 2000 B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} J/{psi}{phi} decays reconstructed in a 1.35 fb{sup -1} data sample collected at CDF. This channel is sensitive not only to the width difference {Delta}{Lambda} in the B{sub s}{sup 0} system but also to the CP violation parameter {beta}{sub s}. The final result we obtain is a confidence region in the two dimensional space of {beta}{sub s} and {Delta}{Lambda}. Assuming the standard model predictions of {beta}{sub s} and {Delta}{Lambda}, the probability is 15%, corresponding to 1.5 Gaussian standard deviations.

The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics successfully describes all of the observed interactions of the fundamental particles (with the exception of non-zero neutrino mass). Despite this enormous success, the SM is widely viewed as an incomplete theory. For example, the size of the asymmetry between matter and antimatter is not nearly large enough to account for the abundance of matter observed throughout the universe. It is thus believed that as-yet-unknown physical phenomena must exist that introduce new asymmetries between matter and antimatter. In this thesis, by studying decays that happen only rarely in the SM, we make measurements of asymmetries between matter and antimatter that are potentially sensitive to the existence of processes beyond the SM. At the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B Factory at SLAC, electrons and positrons are collided at the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance to create pairs of B mesons. The BABAR detector is used to measure the subsequent decay products. Using 383 million {Upsilon}(4S) {yields} B{bar B} decays, we study the decay B{sup 0} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}K{sup 0}. In the SM, this decay is dominated by loop amplitudes. Asymmetries between matter and antimatter (CP asymmetries) are extracted by measuring the time-dependence of the complex amplitudes describing the B{sup …

This work presents simultaneous branching fraction measurements of the decay modes {tau}{sup -} {yields} K{sup -} n{pi}{sup 0}{nu}{sub {tau}} with n = 0,1,2,3 and {tau}{sup -} {yields} {pi}{sup -} n{pi}{sup 0}{nu}{sub {tau}} with n = 3,4. The analysis is based on a data sample of 427 x 10{sup 6} {tau}{sup +}{tau}{sup -} pairs recorded with the BABAR detector, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 464.4 fb{sup -1}. The measured values are {Beta}({tau}{sup -} {yields} K{sup -}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (6.57 {+-} 0.03 {+-} 0.11) x 10{sup -3}, {Beta}({tau}{sup -} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup 0}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (4.61 {+-} 0.03 {+-} 0.11) x 10{sup -3}, {Beta}({tau}{sup -} {yields} K{sup -} {pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (5.05 {+-} 0.17 {+-} 0.44) x 10{sup -4}, {Beta}({tau}{sup -} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (1.31 {+-} 0.43 {+-} 0.40) x 10{sup -4}, {Beta}({tau}{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (1.263 {+-} 0.008 {+-} 0.078) x 10{sup -2} and {Beta}({tau}{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (9.6 {+-} 0.5 {+-} 1.2) x 10{sup -4}, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. All measurements are compatible with the current world averages whereas the uncertainties are significantly smaller …

Minoru Miki's first two marimba compositions, Time for Marimba (1968) and Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra (1969) were composed at a revolutionary time-period for the marimba. Due to unique and innovative compositional techniques, Miki helped establish the marimba as a true concert instrument capable of performing music of the highest quality. As a pioneer in composing for marimba literature, Miki was able to capture the true essence of the marimba; a timeless quality that has helped Time for Marimba remain a part of the standard solo repertoire for the past forty years. The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare Minoru Miki's compositions, Time for Marimba and Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra. Composed within a year of each other, these works possess similar compositional techniques, and rhythmic and thematic relationships. This thesis includes a formal analysis and detailed comparisons of compositional techniques used in both works. Performance considerations, a brief biographical sketch of Miki and historical significance of Time for Marimba and Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra are also included.

Online/offline signature schemes are useful in many situations, and two such scenarios are considered in this dissertation: bursty server authentication and embedded device authentication. In this dissertation, new techniques for online/offline signing are introduced, those are applied in a variety of ways for creating online/offline signature schemes, and five different online/offline signature schemes that are proved secure under a variety of models and assumptions are proposed. Two of the proposed five schemes have the best offline or best online performance of any currently known technique, and are particularly well-suited for the scenarios that are considered in this dissertation. To determine if the proposed schemes provide the expected practical improvements, a series of experiments were conducted comparing the proposed schemes with each other and with other state-of-the-art schemes in this area, both on a desktop class computer, and under AVR Studio, a simulation platform for an 8-bit processor that is popular for embedded systems. Under AVR Studio, the proposed SGE scheme using a typical key size for the embedded device authentication scenario, can complete the offline phase in about 24 seconds and then produce a signature (the online phase) in 15 milliseconds, which is the best offline performance of any known …

This study analyzes students' use of the French second-person pronouns tu (T) and vous (V) in small-group (2-3 students) inter-learner online chat sessions. The influence of internal linguistic factors (i.e., turn type and morphosyntactic environment) on learners' appropriate vs. inappropriate use of these pronouns is considered. The study also investigates the influence of Instructional Level on tu-vous use and the extent to which students from different instructional levels provide various types of peer assistance (e.g., lexical, morphosyntactic, and sociolinguistic/pragmatic) . Pronoun use was extremely unstable for learners of all levels, and a Kruskal-Wallis analysis revealed that Instructional Level did not significantly affect appropriate T/V use overall. Instructional Level and Syntax did, however, significantly affect interrogative T/V use, as shown through multivariate analyses. Peer-assisted performance was limited to lexical retrieval. Pedagogical recommendations are presented for teaching and learning second-person pronouns in French.

Aluminum was deposited onto both Teflon AF and Parylene AF surfaces by chemical vapor deposition of trimethylaluminum. This work shows that similar thin film (100 Angstroms) aluminum oxide adlayers form on both polymers at the low temperature dosing conditions used in the studies. Upon anneal to room temperature and above, defluorination of the polymer surfaces increased and resulted in fluorinated aluminum oxide adlayers; the adlayers were thermally stable to the highest temperatures tested (600 K). Angle-resolved spectra showed higher levels of fluorination toward the polymer/adlayer interface region. Copper films were also deposited at low temperature onto Teflon AF using a copper hexafluoroacetylacetonate-cyclooctadiene precursor. Annealing up to 600 K resulted in the loss of precursor ligands and a shift to metallic copper. As with aluminum adlayers, some polymer defluorination and resulting metal (copper) fluoride was detected. Parylene AF and polystyrene films surfaces were modified by directly dosing with water vapor passed across a hot tungsten filament. Oxygen incorporation into polystyrene occurred exclusively at aromatic carbon sites, whereas oxygen incorporation into parylene occurred in both aromatic and aliphatic sites. Oxygen x-ray photoelectron spectra of the modified polymers were comparable, indicating that similar reactions occurred. The surface oxygenation of parylene allowed enhanced reactivity …

Traditionally, juvenile sex offenders have been ignored in the literature. More recently the research has expanded particularly in the area of assessment and treatment. This study focused on the assessment of sexual arousal to deviant stimuli using the penile plethysmography (PPG) since it likely plays a significant role in juvenile sex offending behaviors. The goal of this study assessed its validity and reliability using Becker et al.'s set of PPG scenarios with a population of juvenile sex offenders. Significant differences were found between groups of (a) admitters versus partial admitters and (b) offenders with and without male victims. This study also examined the latent structure of the PPG results and found three dimensions: arousal to male stimuli, arousal to females and paraphilias, and arousal to non-sexual acts. These findings provide important implications for assessment of juvenile sex offenders and add to the clinical utility of PPG assessments.

This study aimed to test the effectiveness of classroom translations of some laboratory procedures for teaching simple auditory discriminations to learners with developmental disabilities. Three participants with autism and mental retardation were trained to make topographically distinct responses in the presence of two different stimuli, either a pure tone and silence, or two tones. A portable electronic piano keyboard was used to produce tones. Delayed prompt and differential reinforcement procedures were used to teach the responses. None of the participants performed the discriminations accurately without prompting despite numerous revisions to the procedures.

Consisting of both theoretical and empirical inquires, this study examines the primary functions of narrative and the relationship between narrative and mental imagery. The study proposes a new framework to interpret semiotic resources. Combining this with the linguistic functional theory of Halliday (1978), a functional method to empirically investigate semiotic representations was also developed. In the empirical inquiry, the study developed a latent construct method to empirically test the effects of narrative in a real learning situation. This study is the first to investigate the functional relationship between narrative and mental imagery, and among the first to suggest a theory and empirically investigate representations of a multimodal nature. The study is also among the first to use latent constructs to investigate the learning experience in a real educational setting. Data were collected from 190 library professionals who enrolled in three sections (two in narrative and one in plain text) of an online course administered through Vista 4.0 and who completed the course and responded to several instruments. Essay data (n = 82 x 2) were analyzed using content analysis based on the narrative analysis framework developed. Quantitative data analysis methods include univariate data analysis, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling …

As a museum educator who embraces social education and reflects on the postmodern condition, I found working within a traditional museum context to present challenges. As a result, I conducted an action research project focusing on ways to improve my own practice and affect change based on my engagement with visual culture discourse and the docents I teach. Having chosen action research, I implemented various teaching approaches and collected data over the course of several months. These data collection methods included interviews, museum documents, observational notes, recorded teaching practice, and daily journal entries. Narrative analysis was then used to interpret the collected data, specifically focusing how participants, including myself, make sense out of our experiences and how we value them.

In the current study, I examined the general sociocultural model of eating disorders that suggests that sociocultural pressures leads to internalization, which in turn leads to body dissatisfaction and ultimately disordered eating. Because I am testing this model with a sample of African American women, I also am including acculturation as a variable of interest. Specifically, I hypothesized that (a) the experience of more societal pressure to be thin will be related to greater internalization, (b) higher levels of acculturation will be related to greater internalization, (c) internalization of the thin ideal will be directly and positively related to body image concern, and (d) body image concern will be associated with higher levels of disordered eating. It was determined that there is a direct, negative relationship between Level of Identification with Culture of Origin and Internalization. Perceived Pressure was directly and positively related to both Internalization and Body Image Concerns. Body Concerns and Internalization were both directly and positively related to Disordered Eating. These findings suggest that although many of the same constructs related to disordered eating in other ethnic groups are also related to disordered eating among African American women, the relationships between the factors differs across racial/ethnic groups. …

The purpose of this thesis is to establish what specific forces influence whether or not a democratic setback within one nation will diffuse to peripheral states. Past studies devoted to this topic have largely suggested that diffusion essentially functions like a contagious disease, where the likelihood of "infection" is primarily based upon the level of interaction between states. This thesis however proposes that the interaction of the signal generated from a democratic state's collapse and the receptiveness of neighboring nations to this signal ultimately determines when and where diffusion will occur. In order to test the validity of this thesis' claims, the level of democracy within the neighboring states of all failed democratic governments spanning the years 1842-2002 are examined during the first years following such system breakdowns within a large-N quantitative research design. Ultimately this study leads to the conclusion that the interaction of signals and receptivity play a major role in the diffusion of democratic setbacks.

Pigeons worked in a titrating delay match-to-sample (TDMTS) procedure in which selecting the correct comparison stimulus increased the delay between sample offset and comparison-array onset and incorrect comparison selections decreased that delay. Prior research in our lab has shown that the stable adjusted value of the retention interval is a curvilinear function of the observing response requirement. The current study examined the effect of the distribution and predictability of observing response requirements on adjusted retention interval values. The data show that unpredictable observing response requirements were more effective in attenuating the deleterious effects of delay on matching accuracy. The data have implications for our understanding of attending and encoding in performances involving remembering over short temporal durations.

The purpose of this study is to explore the representation of national political freedom on web interface design by using power distance, one of the culture dimensions identified by Geert Hofstede, as a measurement. This study also aims to determine if there are any differences between government-based websites and business-oriented websites in representing national political freedom. A pilot study was conducted to validate ten power distance indicators identified from previous research on cultural dimensions with the intent of establishing a measurement for determining a country's national political freedom on web content and interface design. The result showed that six out of ten proposed indicators are valid power distance indicators. The seventh indicator, symmetric layout, demonstrated that its Web representation correlates with national political freedom level. Consequently, the principal research applied these seven indicators in coding 312 websites selected from 39 countries and analyzed national political freedom represented on these websites with content analysis method. The result of two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that large differences exist in web interface design, which in turn reflects the aforementioned national political freedom. The research showed that the mean effect of freedom level between free-country group, partly-free-country group and not-free-country group was statistically …

The novel instrumentation of nanomanipulation coupled to nanospray mass spectrometry and its applications are presented. The nanomanipulator has the resolution of 10nm step sizes allowing for specific fine movement used to probe and characterize objects of interest. Nanospray mass spectrometry only needs a minimum sample volume of 300nl and a minimum sample size of 300attograms to analyze an analyte making it the ideal instrument to couple to nanomanipulation. The nanomanipulator is mounted to an inverted microscope and consists of 4 nano-positioners; these nano-positioners hold end-effectors and other tools used for manipulation. This original coupling has been used to enhance the current abilities of cellular probing and trace fiber analysis. Experiments have been performed to demonstrate the functionality of this instrument and its capabilities. Histidine and caffeine have been sampled directly from single fibers and analyzed. Lipid bodies from cotton seeds have been sampled indirectly and analyzed. The few applications demonstrated are only the beginning of nanomanipulation coupled to nanospray mass spectrometry and the possible applications are numerous especially with the ability to design and fabricate new end-effectors with unique abilities. Future study will be done to further the applications in direct cellular probing including toxicology studies and organelle analysis of …