We present recent results from the D0 experiment on W and Z boson production using {approx} 50 pb{sup -1} of Run II data recorded at the center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron. Initial studies of W/Z + 2 jets production that are relevant to Higgs searches are also discussed.

The performance of classification algorithms in machine learning is affected by the features used to describe the labeled examples presented to the inducers. Therefore, the problem of feature subset selection has received considerable attention. Genetic approaches to this problem usually follow the wrapper approach: treat the inducer as a black box that is used to evaluate candidate feature subsets. The evaluations might take a considerable time and the traditional approach might be unpractical for large data sets. This paper describes a hybrid of a simple genetic algorithm and a method based on class separability applied to the selection of feature subsets for classification problems. The proposed hybrid was compared against each of its components and two other feature selection wrappers that are used widely. The objective of this paper is to determine if the proposed hybrid presents advantages over the other methods in terms of accuracy or speed in this problem. The experiments used a Naive Bayes classifier and public-domain and artificial data sets. The experiments suggest that the hybrid usually finds compact feature subsets that give the most accurate results, while beating the execution time of the other wrappers.

Starting with two assumptions: (1) gamma-ray bursts originate from stellar death phenomena or so called ''collapsars'' and (2) that these bursts are quasi-universal, whereby the majority of the observed variation is due to our perspective of the jet, an integrated gamma-ray burst model is proposed. It is found that several of the key correlations in the data can be naturally explained with this simple picture and another possible correlation is predicted.

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The proposed luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), now under construction, will bring a large increase in the number of secondary particles from p-p collisions at the interaction point (IP). Energy deposition will be so large that the lifetime and quench performance of interaction region (IR) magnets may be significantly reduced if conventional designs are used. Moreover, the cryogenic capacity of the LHC will have to be significantly increased as the energy deposition load on the interaction region (IR) magnets by itself will exhaust the present capacity. We propose an alternate open midplane dipole design concept for the dipole-first optics that mitigates these issues. The proposed design takes advantage of the fact that most of the energy is deposited in the midplane region. The coil midplane region is kept free of superconductor, support structure and other material. Initial energy deposition calculations show that the increase in temperature remains within the quench tolerance of the superconducting coils. In addition, most of the energy is deposited in a relatively warm region where the heat removal is economical. We present the basic concept and preliminary design that includes several innovations.

The b physics experiments of the next generation, BTeV and LHCb, will perform measurements with an unprecedented accuracy. Theory predictions must control hadronic uncertainties with the same precision to extract the desired short-distance information successfully. I argue that this is indeed possible, discuss those theoretical methods in which hadronic uncertainties are under control and list hadronically clean observables.

The use of permanent magnets has been investigated as an option for electron cooling ring for the proposed luminosity upgrade of RHIC. Several methods have been developed that allow a large variation in field strength. These design concepts were verified with computer simulations using finite element codes. It will be shown that the field uniformity is maintained while the field strength is mechanically adjusted.

We report Raman and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopic studies of multiwalled BN and B{sub x}C{sub y}N{sub z} nanotubes. The Raman spectroscopy shows that the as-grown B{sub x}C{sub y}N{sub z} charge recombination, respectively. Comparison of the photoluminescence of BN nanotubes to that decay process is characterized by two time constants that are attributed to intra- and inter-BN sheet nanotubes as predicted by theory. nanotubes are radially phase separated into BN shells and carbon shells. The photoluminescence of hexagonal BN is consistent with the existence of a spatially indirect band gap in multi-walled BN.

In the search for the nature of dark energy most cosmological probes measure simple functions of the expansion rate. While powerful, these all involve roughly the same dependence on the dark energy equation of state parameters, with anticorrelation between its present value w{sub 0} and time variation w{sub a}. Quantities that have instead positive correlation and so a sensitivity direction largely orthogonal to, e.g., distance probes offer the hope of achieving tight constraints through complementarity. Such quantities are found in strong gravitational lensing observations of image separations and time delays. While degeneracy between cosmological parameters prevents full complementarity, strong lensing measurements to 1 percent accuracy can improve equation of state characterization by 15-50 percent. Next generation surveys should provide data on roughly 105 lens systems, though systematic errors will remain challenging.

Recently Hertog, Horowitz, and Maeda (HHM) (hep-th/0310054) have proposed that cosmic censorship can be violated in the AdS/CFT context. They argue that for certain initial data there is insufficient energy available to make a black hole whose horizon is big enough to cloak the singularity that forms. We have investigated this proposal in the models HHM discuss and have thus far been unable to find initial data that provably satisfy this criterion, despite our development of an improved lower bound on the size of the singular region. This is consistent with recent numerical results (hep-th/0402109). For certain initial data, the energies of our configurations are not far above the lower bound on the requisite black hole mass, and so it is possible that in the exact time development naked singularities do form. We go on to argue that the finite radius cut-off AdS_5 situation discussed by HHM displays instabilities when the full 10D theory is considered. We propose an AdS_3 example that may well be free of this instability.

In this work, we focus on the ordered structures of V-X systems, where X=Ru, Rh, Pd, and relate the variation in the difference of the numbers of valence electrons of the alloy constituents to the information contained in the constitution phase diagrams, and the electronic and stability properties. The electronic properties deduced from the low-temperature specific heat studies are presented for the V-Ru and V-Rh systems and compared with those of the V-Pd alloys for which new experimental results are also included. The theoretical analysis based on first-principles electronic structure calculations confirms the measured variation of the electronic specific heat coefficients with alloy composition, and predicts specific ordering trends in the V-X systems. The superconducting properties are described for the V-X disordered alloys, the ordered V{sub 1}-{sub x}Rh{sub X} and V{sub 1}-{sub x}Ru{sub x} systems, and related to their structural instability.

Titanium was exposed to dilute solutions of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to better characterize the interaction at the interface between the solution and metal. The intensity of light passing through films of known thickness of titanium on quartz was measured as a function of time in contact with H{sub 2}O{sub 2} in concentrations of 0.3% and 1.0%. An atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to record deflection-distance (force) curves as a probe approached the interface of titanium in contact with solution containing 0.3% of H{sub 2}O{sub 2}. The interaction layer measured using AFM techniques was much greater than the thickness of the titanium films used in this study. Raman spectroscopy taken during interaction shows the emergence of a Ti-peroxy gel and titania after 2 hours in contact with 0.3% H2O2 solution.

We have developed a method to suppress the PCR amplification of repetitive sequences in whole chromosome painting probes by adding Cot-1 DNA to the amplification mixture. The repetitive sequences in the Cot-1 DNA bind to their homologous sequences in the probe library, prevent the binding of primers, and interfere with extension of the probe sequences, greatly decreasing PCR efficiency selectively across these blocked regions. A second labeling reaction is then done and this product is resuspended in FISH hybridization mixture without further addition of blocking DNA. The hybridization produces little if any non-specific binding on any other chromosomes. We have been able to successfully use this procedure with both human and rat chromosome probes. This technique should be applicable in producing probes for CGH, M-FISH and SKY, as well as reducing the presence of repetitive DNA in genomic libraries.

Aged alloys of Al-0.5Si-0.5Ge (at.%) contain diamond cubic (A4) precipitates in a dispersion that is much finer than is found in alloys with Si or Ge alone. To help understand this aging behavior, the present work was undertaken to determine alloy composition as a function of aging temperature. The composition was estimated theoretically using a CALPHAD approach, and measured experimentally with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) in a high-resolution electron microscope. Theory and experiment are in reasonable agreement. As the aging temperature rises, the precipitates become enriched in Si, changing from 50 at. % in the low-temperature limit to about 80 at.% Si as temperature approaches 433 C, the high-temperature limit of the precipitate field.

Although there are five effective shear moduli for any layered VTI medium, one and only one effective shear modulus for the layered system contains all the dependence of pore fluids on the elastic or poroelastic constants that can be observed in vertically polarized shear waves. Pore fluids can increase the magnitude the shear energy stored by this modulus by a term that ranges from the smallest to the largest shear moduli of the VTI system. But, since there are five shear moduli in play, the increase in shear energy overall is reduced by a factor of about 5 in general. We can therefore give definite bounds on the maximum increase of shear modulus, being about 20% of the permitted range, when gas is fully replaced by liquid. An attendant increase of density (depending on porosity and fluid density) by approximately 5 to 10% partially offsets the effect of this shear modulus increase. Thus, an increase of shear wave speed on the order of 5 to 10% is shown to be possible when circumstances are favorable - i.e., when the shear modulus fluctuations are large (resulting in strong anisotropy), and the medium behaves in an undrained fashion due to fluid trapping. …

Article examining the mechanism of Glutathione synthetase, an enzyme that belongs to the glutathione synthetase ATP-binding domain-like superfamily. A variety of structural alignment methods were applied and four highly conserved residues of human glutathione synthetase (Glu-144, Asn-146, Lys-305, and Lys-364) were identified in the binding site. The function of these was studied by experimental and computational site-directed mutagenesis.

Article on an investigation of the reaction of CH₃S with CO.

In the process of screening a soil against a certain contaminant, we define the health-risk based preliminary remediation goal (PRG) as the contaminant concentration above which some remedial action may be required. PRG is thus the first standard (or guidance) for judging a site. An over-estimated PRG (a too-large value) may cause us to miss some contaminated sites that can threaten human health and the environment. An under-estimated PRG (a too-small value), on the other hand, may lead to unnecessary cleanup and waste tremendous resources. The PRGs for soils are often calculated on the assumption that the contaminant concentration in soil does not change with time. However, that concentration usually decreases with time as a result of different chemical and transport mechanisms. The static assumption thus exaggerates the long-term exposure dose and results in a too-small PRG. We present a box model that considers all important transport processes and obeys the law of mass conservation. We can use the model as a tool to estimate the transient contaminant concentrations in air, soil and groundwater. Using these concentrations in conjunction with appropriate health risk parameters, we may estimate the PRGs for different contaminants. As an example, we calculated the tritium PRG …

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Time synchronization is a major challenge and a rich area of study in ultra-wideband (UWB) communication systems. Transmitted-reference (TR) receivers avoid the stringent synchronization requirements that exist in conventional pulse detection schemes. However, the performance of such receivers is highly sensitive to precise timing acquisition and tracking of integration window that defines the limits of the finite integrator prior to final decision block. In this paper we propose a novel rapid synchronization technique that allows us to extract the timing information very accurately in UWB-TR receivers in the presence of a variety of channel noise and interference. The principles of the method are presented and the BER performance of a synchronized UWB-TR receiver is investigated in the presence of a range of values for timing jitter by computer simulations. Our studies show that the proposed synchronization technique greatly improves the performance of UWB-TR receivers in the presence of jitter and AWGN with modest increase in complexity.

The charges of magnetic monopoles are constrained to a multiple of 2{pi} times the inverse of the elementary unit electric charge. In the standard model, quarks have fractional charge, raising the question of whether the basic magnetic monopole unit is a multiple of 2{pi} or three times that. A simple lattice construction shows how a magnetic monopole of the lower strength is possible if it interacts with gluonic fields as well. Such a monopole is thus a hadron. This is consistent with the construction of magnetic monopoles in grand unified theories.

The lithium iron phosphate chemistry is plagued by the poor conductivity and slow diffusion in the solid phase. In order to alleviate these problems, various research groups have adopted different strategies including decreasing the particle sizes, increasing the carbon content, and adding dopants. In this study, we obtained LiFePO{sub 4} powders and/or electrodes from six different sources and used a combined model-experimental approach to compare the performance. Samples ranged from 0.4% to 15% ''in-situ'' carbon. In addition, particle sizes varied by as much as an order of magnitude between samples. The study detailed in this manuscript allows us to provide insight into the relative importance of the conductivity of the samples compared to the particle size, the impact of having a distribution in particle sizes, and ideas for making materials in order to maximize the power capability of this chemistry.

In order to obtain sufficient cooling rates for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) electron cooling, a bunched beam with high bunch charge, high repetition frequency and high energy is required and it is necessary to use a ''magnetized'' beam, i.e., an electron beam with non-negligible angular momentum. Applying a longitudinal solenoid field on the cathode can generate such a beam, which rotates around its longitudinal axis in a field-free region. This paper suggests how a magnetized beam can be accelerated and transported from a RF photocathode electron gun to the cooling section without significantly increasing its emittance. The evolution of longitudinal slices of the beam under a combination of space charge and magnetization is investigated, using paraxial envelope equations and numerical simulations. We find that we must modify the traditional method of compensating for emittance as used for normal non-magnetized beam with space charge to account for magnetization. The results of computer simulations of successful compensation are presented. Alternately, we show an electron bunch density distribution for which all slices propagate uniformly and which does not require emittance compensation.

The RF field and space charge effect in a low field RF gun is given. The cell lengths are modified to have maximum accelerating efficiency. The modification introduces an extra RF field slice emittance. The phase space evolution of the following emittance compensation system is presented taking into account the chromatic effect. The emittance compensation mechanics for RF field and chromatic effect induced emittance is similar to that of compensating the space charge induced emittance. But the requirements are different to have best compensation for them. The beam waist is far in front of linac entrance to have best compensation for the RF field and chromatic effect induced emittance. For low field RF gun with high charge electron bunch this compensation is more important.