W{sup {+-}} + b{bar b} events contain the associated production of a W{sup {+-}} boson, a pair of bottom quarks (b{bar b}), and any number of additional partons. This process is of much importance at hadron collider experiments due to its role as a background source in searches for Standard Model Higgs boson and single top-quark production. In this thesis the results are presented for a measurement of the b-jet cross-section in W{sup {+-}} + b{bar b} events containing 1 or 2 jets in 695 pb{sup -1} of {radical}s =1.96 TeV p{bar p} collisions at the CDF experiment. This is the first measurement of the cross-section of W{sup {+-}} b{bar b} performed in any experiment. The cross-section is defined to be proportional to the number of b-jets from W{sup {+-}} b{bar b} events with one or two jets, and a leptonically decaying W{sup {+-}} with decay products passing kinematics cuts (p{sub T}({ell}{sup {+-}}) {ge} 20.0 GeV, |{eta}({ell}{sup {+-}})| {le} 1.1, p{sub T}({nu}) {ge} 25.0 GeV). The invariant mass distribution of jets identified as containing a long-lived hadron is fit with components for bottom, charm, and light-flavor to find the fraction due to true b-decays. Background b-jet sources are subtracted to …

The lifetimes of the B{sup -}, B{sup 0} and B{sub s}{sup 0} mesons are measured using partially reconstructed semileptonic decays. Following semileptonic decay processes and their charge conjugates are used for this analysis: B{sup -}/B{sup 0} {yields} {ell}{sup -}{nu}D{sup 0}X; B{sup -}/B{sup 0} {yields} {ell}{sup -}{nu}D*{sup +}X; B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} {ell}{sup -}{nu}D{sub s}{sup +}x, where {ell}{sup -} denotes either a muon or electron. The data are collected during 2002-2004 by the 8 GeV single lepton triggers in CDF Run II at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Corresponding integrated luminosity is about 260 and 360 pb{sup -1} used for the B{sup -}/B{sup 0} and B{sub s}{sup 0} lifetime analyses, respectively. With the single lepton triggers, events which contain a muon or electron with a transverse momentum greater than 8 GeV/c are selected. For these lepton candidates, further lepton identification cuts are applied to improve purity of the B semileptonic decay signal. After the lepton selection, three types of charm mesons associated with the lepton candidates are reconstructed. Following exclusive decay modes are used for the charm meson reconstruction: D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}; D*{sup +} {yields} D{sup 0}{pi}{sub s}{sup +}, followed by D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}; D{sub s}{sup …

I investigate why gendered images of Hatshepsut influenced androgynous images of Nefertiti in New Kingdom Egypt and how Nefertiti and Akhenaten used their images in the promotion of their monotheistic religion; through a contextual, stylistic and feminist examination of the images. Hatshepsut cultivated images of herself to legitimize her rule in relation to canonical kings before her. Similarly, Nefertiti represented herself as a figure indiscernible from Akhenaten, creating an image of female co-rulership. Although the visual representations of both Hatshepsut and Nefertiti differ, the concepts behind each are analogous. They both manipulated androgyny to create images displaying powerful women equal in status to male Egyptian kings.

This thesis argues that art criticism published during Soutine's lifetime emphasizes ethnicity, nationalism and geography in discussions of the artist's style. These critical discussions have influenced the historiography of Soutine published after his death, resulting in a continued emphasis on style that includes references to ethnicity. Ethnicity, nationalism and geography are identified in the critical reception and historiography by noting references, both specific and implied, to Jewishness, French art, and foreign status (among others). These references are analyzed in terms of existing scholarship that addresses concepts of ethnicity and nationalism, and with consideration to how the critical reception has impacted the historiography.

An understanding of the potential roles as lipid mediators of a family of bioactive metabolites called N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) depends on their accurate identification and quantification. The levels of 18C unsaturated NAEs (e.g. NAE18:2, NAE 18:3, etc.) in wild-type seeds (about 2000 ng/g fw) generally decreased by about 80% during germination and post-germinative growth. In addition, results suggest NAE-degradative fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) expression does not play a major role in normal NAE metabolism as previously thought. Seedlings germinated and grown in the presence of abscisic acid (ABA), an endogenous plant hormone, exhibited growth arrest and secondary dormancy, similar to the treatment of seedlings with exogenous N­lauroylethanolamine (NAE12:0). ABA-mediated growth arrest was associated with higher levels of unsaturated NAEs. Overall, these results are consistent with the concept that NAE metabolism is activated during seed germination and suggest that the reduction in unsaturated NAE levels is under strict temporal control and may be a requirement for normal seed germination and post-germinative growth.

The concepts of well-being and life satisfaction are explored in this study of the experiences and psychological traits of highly-gifted students who have been radically accelerated into an early-college-entrance program. The study was conducted after participation in the early-college-entrance program. The primary focus of the study is on personal well-being and life satisfaction including the variables of subjective well-being, efficacy, and the dispositional traits of cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood. These variables are gathered as the initial phase of a longitudinal study of the early-college entrants' personal and professional experiences, their life satisfaction, and dispositions. The subjects for this study were participants in the Texas Academy of Math and Science (TAMS). TAMS is a state run early-college-entrance program at the University of North Texas in Denton.

Results are reported on the reaction {gamma}p {yields} p{bar p}p with beam energy in the range 4.8-5.5 GeV. The data were collected at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in CLAS experiment E01-017(G6C). The focus of this study is an understanding of the mechanisms of photoproduction of proton-antiproton pairs, and to search for intermediate resonances, both narrow and broad, which decay to p{bar p}. The total measured cross section in the photon energy range 4.8-5.5 GeV is {sigma} = 33 {+-} 2 nb. Measurement of the cross section as a function of energy is provided. An upper limit on the production of a narrow resonance state previously observed with a mass of 2.02 GeV/c{sup 2} is placed at 0.35 nb. No intermediate resonance states were observed. Meson exchange production appears to dominate the production of the proton-antiproton pairs.

The goal of Jefferson Lab experiment E01-004 (F?-2) was the measurement of the longitudinal and transverse cross sections via pion electroproduction from hydrogen and deuterium for the purpose of extracting the charged pion form factor using pole dominance. The data were taken at two values of Q2 (1.60 and 2.45 GeV/c)2. In order to attain full coverage in R?, charged pions were detected in parallel kinematics (along the direction of momentum transfer, q), and at ±3 degrees off the direction of momentum transfer. For each Q2 data were taken for two values of the virtual photon polarization, ?, respectively. All data were taken at a fixed center of mass energy, W=2.22 GeV. The longitudinal and transverse pieces of the cross section were separated using the Rosenbluth separation method.

We are becoming dependent on energy more today than we were a century ago, and with increasing world population and booming economies, sooner or later our energy sources will be exhausted. Moreover, our economy and welfare strongly depends on foreign oil and in the shadow of political uncertainties, there is an urgent need for a reliable, safe, and cheap energy source. Thermonuclear fusion, if achieved, is that source of energy which not only will satisfy our demand for today but also for centuries to come. Today, there are two major approaches to achieve fusion: magnetic confinement fusion (MFE) and inertial confinement fusion (ICF). This dissertation explores the inertial confinement fusion using the fast ignition concept. Unlike the conventional approach where the same laser is used for compression and ignition, in fast ignition separate laser beams are used. This dissertation addresses three very important topics to fast ignition inertial confinement fusion. These are laser-to-electron coupling efficiency, laser-generated electron beam transport, and the associated isochoric heating. First, an integrated fast ignition experiment is carried out with 0.9 kJ of energy in the compression beam and 70 J in the ignition beam. Measurements of absolute K{sub {alpha}} yield from the imploded core revealed …

This thesis describes a search for the rare decay K{sub L} {yields} {pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{gamma} using data from the KTeV experiment, using the topology K{sub L} {yields} {pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sub D}{sup 0}{gamma} (where {pi}{sub D}{sup 0} {yields} {gamma}e{sup +}e{sup -}). Due to Bose statistics and the real nature of the photon, the K{sub L} {yields} {pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{gamma} decay can proceed at lowest order only by the Cp conserving direct emission of an E2 photon. The decay vanishes to O(p{sup 4}) in chiral perturbation theory and is a probe of the theory to the sixth order. The primary background to this decay consists of K{sub L} {yields} {pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sub D}{sup 0} events with one lost photon. The upper limit for the decay K{sub L} {yields} {pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{gamma} presented in this thesis is 2.32 x 10{sup -7} at the 90% confidence level. This upper limit was derived from both 1997 and 1999 data, using a blind analysis. The upper limit was derived from a Feldman-Cousins method, based on a weighted total of 0.53 data events in the signal region with an expected K{sub L} {yields} {pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sub D}{sup 0} background of 0.37 {+-} 0.28 events. The previous upper limit …

In this thesis the author has described the first measurement performed at a hadron collider of the branching fraction of the Cabibbo-suppressed mode B{sup +} {yields} {bar D}{sup 0} K{sup +}. The analysis has been performed with 360 pb{sup -1} of data collected by the CDF II detector.

The Run II physics program at the Tevatron started in the spring of 2001 with protons and antiprotons colliding at an energy of {radical}s = 1.96 TeV, and is continuing with about 1.2 fb{sup -1} of data currently collected by the CDF and D0 experiments. A measurement of the b-jet cross section as function of jet transverse momentum p{perpendicular} has been performed using 312 pb{sup -1} of D0 data. The results for this measurement were obtained and are presented herein. A neural network algorithm was used to identify b jets.

Accurate simulations of atmospheric boundary layer flow are vital for predicting dispersion of contaminant releases, particularly in densely populated urban regions where first responders must react within minutes and the consequences of forecast errors are potentially disastrous. Current mesoscale models do not account for urban effects, and conversely urban scale models do not account for mesoscale weather features or atmospheric physics. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop and implement an immersed boundary method (IBM) along with a surface roughness parameterization into the mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. IBM will be used in WRF to represent the complex boundary conditions imposed by urban landscapes, while still including forcing from regional weather patterns and atmospheric physics. This document details preliminary results of this research, including the details of three distinct implementations of the immersed boundary method. Results for the three methods are presented for the case of a rotation influenced neutral atmospheric boundary layer over flat terrain.

This thesis presents the search for neutral Minimal Supersymmetric extension of Standard Model (MSSM) Higgs bosons decaying to tau pairs where one of the taus decays leptonically, and the other one hadronically. CDF Run II data with L{sub int} = 310 pb{sup -1} are used. There is no evidence of MSSM Higgs existence, which results in the upper limits on {sigma}(p{bar p} {yields} {phi}) x BR({phi} {yields} {tau}{tau}) in m{sub A} range between 115 and 250 GeV. These limits exclude some area in tan {beta} vs m{sub A} parameter space.

The inductively coupled plasma (ICP) is an atmospheric pressure ionization source. Traditionally, the plasma is sampled via a sampler cone. A supersonic jet develops behind the sampler, and this region is pumped down to a pressure of approximately one Torr. A skimmer cone is located inside this zone of silence to transmit ions into the mass spectrometer. The position of the sampler and skimmer cones relative to the initial radiation and normal analytical zones of the plasma is key to optimizing the useful analytical signal [1]. The ICP both atomizes and ionizes the sample. Polyatomic ions form through ion-molecule interactions either in the ICP or during ion extraction [l]. Common polyatomic ions that inhibit analysis include metal oxides (MO{sup +}), adducts with argon, the gas most commonly used to make up the plasma, and hydride species. While high resolution devices can separate many analytes from common interferences, this is done at great cost in ion transmission efficiency--a loss of 99% when using high versus low resolution on the same instrument [2]. Simple quadrupole devices, which make up the bulk of ICP-MS instruments in existence, do not present this option. Therefore, if the source of polyatomic interferences can be determined and …

In this thesis our main interest has been to investigate metallic photonic crystal and its applications. We explained how to solve a periodic photonic structure with transfer matrix method and when and how to use modal expansion method. Two different coating methods were introduced, modifying a photonic structure's intrinsic optical properties and rigorous calculation results are presented. Two applications of metallic photonic structures are introduced. For thermal emitter, we showed how to design and find optimal structure. For conversion efficiency increasing filter, we calculated its efficiency and the way to design it. We presented the relation between emitting light spectrum and absorption and showed the material and structural dependency of the absorption spectrum. By choosing a proper base material and structural parameters, we can design a selective emitter at a certain region we are interested in. We have developed a theoretical model to analyze a blackbody filament enclosed by a metallic mesh which can increase the efficiency of converting a blackbody radiation to visible light. With this model we found that a square lattice metallic mesh enclosing a filament might increase the efficiency of incandescent lighting sources. Filling fraction and thickness dependency were examined and presented. Combining these two parameters …

Superconducting high resolution fast-neutron calorimetric spectrometers based on {sup 6}LiF and TiB{sub 2} absorbers have been developed. These novel cryogenic spectrometers measure the temperature rise produced in exothermal (n, {alpha}) reactions with fast neutrons in {sup 6}Li and {sup 10}B-loaded materials with heat capacity C operating at temperatures T close to 0.1 K. Temperature variations on the order of 0.5 mK are measured with a Mo/Cu thin film multilayer operated in the transition region between its superconducting and its normal state. The advantage of calorimetry for high resolution spectroscopy is due to the small phonon excitation energies k{sub B}T on the order of {mu}eV that serve as signal carriers, resulting in an energy resolution {Delta}E {approx} (k{sub B}T{sup 2}C){sup 1/2}, which can be well below 10 keV. An energy resolution of 5.5 keV has been obtained with a Mo/Cu superconducting sensor and a TiB{sub 2} absorber using thermal neutrons from a {sup 252}Cf neutron source. This resolution is sufficient to observe the effect of recoil nuclei broadening in neutron spectra, which has been related to the lifetime of the first excited state in {sup 7}Li. Fast-neutron spectra obtained with a {sup 6}Li-enriched LiF absorber show an energy resolution of 16 …

Magnetic refrigeration is a promising technology that offers a potential for high energy efficiency. The giant magnetocaloric effect of the R{sub 5}(Si{sub x}, Ge{sub 1-x}){sub 4} alloys (where R=rare-earth and O {le} x {le} 1), which was discovered in 1997, make them perfect candidates for magnetic refrigeration applications. In this study the microstructures of Gd{sub 5}(Si{sub x}Ge{sub 1-x}){sub 4} alloys have been characterized using electron microscopy techniques, with the focus being on distinctive linear features first examined in 1999. These linear features have been observed in R{sub 5}(Si{sub x}, Ge{sub 1-x}){sub 4} alloys prepared from different rare-earths (Gd, Tb, Dy and Er) with different crystal structures (Gd{sub 5}Si{sub 4}-type orthorhombic, monoclinic and Gd{sub 5}Ge{sub 4}-type orthorhombic). Systematic scanning electron microscope studies revealed that these linear features are actually thin-plates, which grow along specific directions in the matrix material. The crystal structure of the thin-plates has been determined as hexagonal with lattice parameters a=b=8.53 {angstrom} and c=6.40 {angstrom} using selected area diffraction (SAD). Energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis, carried out in both scanning and transmission electron microscopes, showed that the features have a composition approximating to R{sub 5}(Si{sub x},Ge{sub 1-x}){sub 3}.phase. Orientation relationship between the matrix and the thin-plates has been calculated …

During the last decades, particle physicists have studied the tiniest building blocks of matter--the quarks and the leptons--and the forces between them in great detail. From these experiments, a theoretical framework has been built that describes the observed results with high precision. The achievement of this theory, which is referred to as the Standard Model of elementary particle physics, was the elaboration of a unified description of the strong, weak and electromagnetic forces in the framework of quantum gauge-field theories. Moreover, the Standard Model combines the weak and electromagnetic forces in a single electroweak gauge theory. The fourth force which is realized in nature, gravity, is too weak to be observable in laboratory experiments carried out in high-energy particle physics and is not part of the Standard Model. Although the Standard Model has proven highly successful in correlating a huge amount of experimental results, a key ingredient is as yet untested: the origin of electroweak symmetry breaking. Currently, the only viable ansatz that is compatible with observation is the Higgs mechanism. It predicts the existence of a scalar particle, called the Higgs boson, and the couplings to the fundamental Standard Model particles, however not its mass. An upper limit on …

In this dissertation, they present a study of the untagged decay of B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} J/{psi}{phi}, the final state of which is a superposition of the CP-even and CP-odd states. Within the framework of the standard model (SM), to a good approximation, the two CP eigenstates of the (B{sub s}{sup 0}, {bar B}{sub s}{sup 0}) system are equivalent to mass eigenstates. The data collected by the D0 detector between June 2002 to August 2004 (an integrated luminosity of approximately 450 pb{sup -1}) has been used for the analysis presented in this thesis. From a simultaneous fit to the B{sub s}{sup 0} candidate mass, lifetime, and the angular distribution of the decay products, they obtain the CP-odd fraction in the final state at production time to be 0.16 {+-} 0.10(stat) {+-} 0.02(syst). The average lifetime of the (B{sub s}{sup 0}, {bar B}{sub s}{sup 0}) system is measured to be 1.39{sub -0.16}{sup +0.13}(stat){sub -0.02}{sup +0.01}(syst) ps, with the relative width difference between the heavy and light mass eigenstates, {Delta}{Gamma}/{bar {Gamma}} = ({Gamma}{sup L}/{Gamma}{sup H})/{bar {Gamma}} = 0.24{sub -0.38}{sup +0.28}(stat){sub -0.04}{sup +0.03}(syst). With the additional constraint from the world average of the B{sub s}{sup 0} lifetime measurements using semileptonic decays, they find …

This study establishes a set of magnetics-based tools that have been integrated with microfluidic systems. The overall impact of the work begins to enable the rapid and efficient manipulation and detection of magnetic entities such as particles, picoliter-sized droplets, or bacterial cells. Details of design, fabrication, and theoretical and experimental assessments are presented. The manipulation strategy has been demonstrated in the format of a particle diverter, whereby micron-sized particles are actively directed into desired flow channels at a split-flow junction by means of integrated microelectromagnets. Magnetic detection has been realized by deploying Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) sensors--microfabricated structures originally developed for use as readout elements in computer hard-drives. We successfully transferred the GMR technology to the lab-on-a-chip arena, and demonstrated the versatility of the concept in several important areas: real-time, integrated monitoring of the properties of multiphase droplet flows; rapid quantitative determination of the concentration of magnetic nanoparticles in droplets of ferrofluids; and high-speed detection of individual magnetic microparticles and magnetotactic bacteria. The study also includes novel schemes for hydrodynamic flow focusing that work in conjunction with GMR-based detection to ensure precise navigation of the sample stream through the GMR detection volume, therefore effectively establishing a novel concept of a microfabricated …

A new measurement of the inclusive and differential production cross sections of J/{psi} mesons and b-hadrons in proton-antiproton collisions at {radical}s = 1960 GeV is presented. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 39.7 pb{sup -1} collected by the CDF Run II detector. The integrated cross section for inclusive J/{psi} production for all transverse momenta from 0 to 20 GeV/c in the rapidity range |y| < 0.6 is found to be 4.08 {+-} 0.02(stat){sub -0.33}{sup +0.36}(syst) {mu}b. The fraction of J/{psi} events from the decay of the long-lived b-hadrons is separated by using the lifetime distribution in all events with p{sub T}(J/{psi}) > 1.25 GeV/c. The total cross section for b-hadrons, including both hadrons and anti-hadrons, decaying to J/{psi} with transverse momenta greater than 1.25 GeV/c in the rapidity range |y(J/{psi})| < 0.6, is found to be 0.330 {+-} 0.005(stat){sub -0.033}{sup +0.036}(syst) {mu}b. Using a Monte Carlo simulation of the decay kinematics of b-hadrons to all final states containing a J/{psi}, the first measurement of the total single b-hadron cross section down to zero transverse momentum is extracted at sqrts = 1960 GeV. The total single b-hadron cross section integrated over all transverse momenta for b-hadrons in the rapidity …

The search for and study of flavor oscillations in the neutral B{sub s}B{sub s} meson system is an experimentally challenging task. It constitutes a flagship analysis of the Tevatron physics program. In this dissertation, they develop an analysis of the time-dependent B{sub s} flavor oscillations using data collected with the CDF detector. The data samples are formed of both fully and partially reconstructed B meson decays: B{sub s} {yields} D{sub s}{pi}({pi}{pi}) and B{sub s} {yields} D{sub s}lv. A likelihood fitting framework is implemented and appropriate models and techniques developed for describing the mass, proper decay time, and flavor tagging characteristics of the data samples. The analysis is extended to samples of B{sup +} and B{sup 0} mesons, which are further used for algorithm calibration and method validation. The B mesons lifetimes are extracted. The measurement of the B{sup 0} oscillation frequency yields {Delta}m{sub d} = 0.522 {+-} 0.017 ps{sup -1}. The search for B{sub s} oscillations is performed using an amplitude method based on a frequency scanning procedure. Applying a combination of lepton and jet charge flavor tagging algorithms, with a total tagging power {epsilon}'D{sup 2} of 1.6%, to a data sample of 355 pb{sup -1}, a sensitivity of 13.0 …

A precise branching ratio measurement of the rare decay {pi}{sup 0} {yields} e{sup +}e{sup -} has been made. The measurement was made with the rare kaon decay experiment KTeV at Fermilab where the source of {pi}{sup 0}s was K{sub L} {yields} {pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0} decaying in flight. A total of 794 fully reconstructed K{sub L} {yields} 3{pi}{sup 0} events consistent with two of the intermediate {pi}{sup 0}s decaying into {gamma}{gamma} and one into e{sup +}e{sup -} were collected. An estimated 53.2 {+-} 11.0 of these events were expected to be background. Normalizing to the {pi}{sup 0} Dalitz decay they found Br({pi}{sup 0} {yields} e{sup +}e{sup -}, (m{sub e{sup +}e{sup -}}/m{sub {pi}{sup 0}}){sup 2} > 0.95) = (6.44 {+-} 0.25(stat) {+-} 0.22(syst)) x 10{sup -8} where internal radiation, {pi}{sup 0} {yields} e{sup +}e{sup -}({gamma}), was limited by the requirement (m{sub e{sup +}e{sup -}}/m{sub {pi}{sup 0}}){sup 2} > 0.95 which separated it from the tree level Dalitz decay, {pi}{sup 0} {yields} e{sup +}e{sup -}P{gamma}.