A detailed instructional manual was created to guide criticality safety engineers through the process of designing a criticality alarm system (CAS) for Department of Energy (DOE) hazard class 1 and 2 facilities. Regulatory and technical requirements were both addressed. A list of design tasks and technical subtasks are thoroughly analyzed to provide concise direction for how to complete the analysis. An example of the application of the design methodology, the Criticality Alarm System developed for the Radioisotope Production Laboratory (RPL) of Richland, Washington is also included. The analysis for RPL utilizes the Monte Carlo code MCNP5 for establishing detector coverage in the facility. Significant improvements to the existing CAS were made that increase the reliability, transparency, and coverage of the system.

This thesis presents an approach to find lower resolution CFD models that can accurately lead a designer to a correct decision at a lower computational cost. High-fidelity CFD models often contain too much information and come at a higher computational cost, limiting the designs a designer can test and how much optimization can be performed on the design. Lower model resolution is commonly used to reduce computational time. However there are no clear guidelines on how much model accuracy is required. Instead experience and intuition are used to select an appropriate lower resolution model. This thesis presents an alternative to this ad hoc method by considering the added value of the addition information provided by increasing accurate and more computationally expensive models.

This thesis is a compilation of a general introduction and literature review that ties together the subsequent chapters which consist of two journal articles that have yet to be submitted for publication. The overall topic relates to the evaluation and application of a new class of cyanate ester resin with unique properties that lend it applicable to use as a resin for injection repair of high glass transition temperature polymer matrix composites. The first article (Chapter 2) details the evaluation and optimization of adhesive properties of this cyanate ester and alumina nanocomposites under different conditions. The second article (Chapter 3) describes the development and evaluation of an injection repair system for repairing delaminations in polymer matrix composites.

Electricity and magnetism were unified into a common subject by James Clerk Maxwell in the nineteenth century yielding the electromagnetic theory. Four equations govern the dynamics of electric charges and magnetic fields, commonly known as Maxwell's equations. Maxwell's equations demonstrate that an accelerated charged particle can produce magnetic fields and a time varying magnetic field can induce a voltage - thereby linking the two phenomena. However, in solids, electric and magnetic ordering are most often considered separately and usually with good reason: the electric charges of electrons and ions are responsible for the charge effects, whereas the electron spin governs magnetic properties.

This work is the result of the researchers carried out during a three years Ph.D. period in the BABAR experiment. The first chapter consists in an introduction to the theoretical aspects of the D{sup 0} meson lifetime determination and CP violation parameters, as well as an overview of the CP violation in the B sector, which is the main topic of the experiment. The description of the experimental apparatus follows with particular attention to the Silicon Vertex Tracker detector, the most critical detector for the determination of decay vertices and thus of lifetimes and time dependent CP violation asymmetries. In the fourth chapter the operation and running of the vertex detector is described, as a result from the experience as Operation Manager of the SVT, with particular attention to the safety of the device and the data quality assurance. The last chapter is dedicated to the determination of the D{sup 0} meson lifetime with the BABAR detector, which is the main data analysis carried out by the candidate. The analysis is characterized by the selection of an extremely pure sample of D{sup 0} mesons for which the decay flight length and proper time is reconstructed. The description of the unbinned …

Presented is a precise measurement of the {bar B}{sup 0} {yields} D*{sup +}{ell}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {ell}} branching fraction using 81.47 fb{sup -1} of data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e{sup +}e{sup -} storage ring at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The measurement was performed by partially reconstructing the D*{sup +} meson from {bar B}{sup 0} {yields} D*{sup +}{ell}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {ell}} decays using only the soft pion of the D*{sup +} {yields} D{sup 0}{pi}{sup +} decay to reconstruct its four vector. The branching fraction was measured to be {Beta}({bar B}{sup 0} {yields} D*{sup +}{ell}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {ell}}) = (4.91 {+-} 0.01{sub stat} {+-} 0.15{sub syst})%.

Various methods exist for fabrication of micron and submicron sized waveguide structures. However, most of them include expensive and time consuming semiconductor fabrication techniques. An economical method for fabricating waveguide structures is introduced and demonstrated in this thesis. This method is established based on previously well-developed photonic crystal fabrication method called two-polymer microtransfer molding. The waveguide in this work functions by a coupler structure that diffracts the incident light into submicron polymer rods. The light is then guided through the rods. Characterization is done by collecting the light that has been guided through the waveguide and exits the end of these submicron polymer bars. The coupling and waveguiding capabilities are demonstrated using two light sources, a laser and white light.

This thesis describes an implementation of the so-called"zero-field MRI" (ZFMRI) pulse sequence, which allows for imaging in an arbitrarily low B₀ field. The ZFMRI sequence created an effective unidirectional gradient field by using a train of pi pulses to average out the concomitant gradient components during encoding. The signals were acquired using a low-transition temperature dc Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (low-Tc dc SQUID) coupled to a first-order axial gradiometer. The experiments were carried out in a liquid helium dewar which was magnetically shielded with a single-layer mu-metal can around the outside and a superconducting Pb can contained within the helium space. We increased the filling factor of the custom-made, double-walled Pyrex insert by placing the liquid alcohol sample, at a temperature of approximately -50 degrees C, at the center of one loop of the superconducting gradiometer, which was immersed in the helium bath.

The BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collider is located at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. It has been gathering data on the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance from 2000 until 2007 with the primary objective of studying CP violation in B-meson decays. In this thesis they provide a theoretical overview of how CP violation arises in the context of the Standard Model, why B decays are relevant, and how BABAR gathers the necessary data. Specifically, they present the analysis of B{sup 0} {yields} {rho}{sup 0}{rho}{sup 0} decays in a sample of 465 x 10{sup 6} {Upsilon}(4S) {yields} B{bar B}. They measure the corresponding branching fraction {Beta} = (0.92 {+-} 0.32(stat.) {+-} 0.14(syst.)) x 10{sup -6} and the longitudinal polarization fraction f{sub L} = 0.75{sub -0.14}{sup +0.11}(stat.) {+-} 0.04(syst.). The evidence for the B{sup 0} {yields} {rho}{sup 0}{rho}{sup 0} signal has a significance of 3.1 standard deviations ({sigma}), when the systematic uncertainties are included. There is insufficient evidence for B decays into similar modes and the corresponding upper limits are determined to be {Beta}{sub {rho}{sup 0}f{sub 0}} < 0.34 x 10{sup -6}, {Beta}{sub f{sub 0}f{sub 0}} < 0.16 x 10{sup -6}, {Beta}{sub {rho}{sup 0}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}} < 8.7 x 10{sup …

Photonic crystals and metamaterials, both composed of artificial structures, are two interesting areas in electromagnetism and optics. New phenomena in photonic crystals and metamaterials are being discovered, including some not found in natural materials. This thesis presents my research work in the two areas. Photonic crystals are periodically arranged artificial structures, mostly made from dielectric materials, with period on the same order of the wavelength of the working electromagnetic wave. The wave propagation in photonic crystals is determined by the Bragg scattering of the periodic structure. Photonic band-gaps can be present for a properly designed photonic crystal. Electromagnetic waves with frequency within the range of the band-gap are suppressed from propagating in the photonic crystal. With surface defects, a photonic crystal could support surface modes that are localized on the surface of the crystal, with mode frequencies within the band-gap. With line defects, a photonic crystal could allow the propagation of electromagnetic waves along the channels. The study of surface modes and waveguiding properties of a 2D photonic crystal will be presented in Chapter 1. Metamaterials are generally composed of artificial structures with sizes one order smaller than the wavelength and can be approximated as effective media. Effective macroscopic parameters …

Cross-sections are presented for 58 GeV {pi}, K, and p on a wide range of nuclear targets. These cross-sections are essential for determining the neutrino flux in measurements of neutrino cross-sections and oscillations. The E907 Main Injector Particle Production (MIPP) experiment at Fermilab is a fixed target experiment for measuring hadronic particle production using primary 120 GeV/c protons and secondary {pi}, K, and p beams. The particle identification is made by dE/dx in a time projection chamber, and by time-of-flight, differential Cherenkov and ring imaging Cherenkov detectors, which together cover a wide range of momentum from 0.1 GeV/c up to 120 GeV/c. MIPP targets span the periodic table, from hydrogen to uranium, including beryllium and carbon. The MIPP has collected {approx} 0.26 x 10{sup 6} events of 58 GeV/c secondary particles produced by protons from the main injector striking a carbon target.

The top quark is the heaviest known matter particle and plays an important role in the Standard Model of particle physics. At hadron colliders, it is possible to produce single top quarks via the weak interaction. This allows a direct measurement of the CKM matrix element V{sub tb} and serves as a window to new physics. The first direct measurement of single top quark production with a tau lepton in the final state (the tau+jets channel) is presented in this thesis. The measurement uses 4.8 fb{sup -1} of Tevatron Run II data in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV acquired by the D0 experiment. After selecting a data sample and building a background model, the data and background model are in good agreement. A multivariate technique, boosted decision trees, is employed in discriminating the small single top quark signal from a large background. The expected sensitivity of the tau+jets channel in the Standard Model is 1.8 standard deviations. Using a Bayesian statistical approach, an upper limit on the cross section of single top quark production in the tau+jets channel is measured as 7.3 pb at 95% confidence level, and the cross section is measured as 3.4{sub -1.8}{sup +2.0} …

With data from the SELEX experiment we study charm hadro-production. We report the differential production cross sections as function of the longitudinal and transverse momentum, as well as for two different target materials, of 14 charmed hadron and/or their decay modes. This is the most extensive study to date. SELEX is a fixed target experiment at Fermilab with high forward acceptance; it took data during 1996-1997 with 600 GeV/c {Sigma}{sup -} and {pi}{sup -}, and 540 GeV/c proton and {pi}{sup +} beams. It used 5 target foils (two copper and three diamond). We use the results to determine {alpha}, used in parametrizing the production cross section as {infinity} A{sup {alpha}}, where A is the mass number of the target nuclei. We found within our statistics that {alpha} is independent of the longitudinal momentum fraction x{sub F} in the interval 0.1 < x{sub F} < 1.0, with {alpha} = 0.778 {+-} 0.014. The average value of {alpha} for charm production by pion beams is {alpha}{sub meson} = 0.850 {+-} 0.028. This is somewhat larger than the corresponding average {alpha}{sub baryon} = 0.755 {+-} 0.016 for charm production by baryon beams ({Sigma}{sup -} and protons).

This dissertation presents a new measurement of p{bar p} {yields} t{bar t}X production at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV using 974.2 pb{sup -1} of data collected with the D0 detector between 2002 and 2006. We focus on the final state where the W boson from one of the top quarks decays into a {tau} lepton and its associated neutrino, while the other W boson decays into a quark-antiquark pair. We aim to select those events in which the {tau} lepton subsequently decays hadronically, meaning to one or three charged hadrons, zero or more neutral hadrons and a tau neutrino (the charge conjugate processes are implied in all of the above). The observable signature thus consists of a narrow calorimeter shower with associated track(s) characteristic of a hadronic tau decay, four or more jets, of which two are initiated by b quarks accompanying the W's in the top quark decays, and a large net missing momentum in the transverse plane due to the energetic neutrino-antineutrino pair that leave no trace in the detector media. The preliminary result for the measured cross section is: {sigma}(t{bar t}) = 6.9{sub -1.2}{sup +1.2}(stat){sub -0.7}{sup +0.8}(syst) {+-} 0.4 (lumi) pb. This indicates that our finding is consistent …

The MiniBooNE experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) was designed to search for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} neutrino oscillations at {Delta}m{sup 2} {approx} 1 eV{sup 2} using an intense neutrino flux with an average energy E{sub {nu}} {approx} 700 MeV. From 2002 to 2009 MiniBooNE has accumulated more than 1.0 x 10{sup 21} protons on target (POT) in both neutrino and antineutrino modes. MiniBooNE provides a perfect platform for detailed measurements of exclusive and semiinclusive neutrino cross-sections, for which MiniBooNE has the largest samples of events up to date, such as neutral current elastic (NCE), neutral current {pi}{sup 0}, charged current quasi-elastic (CCQE), charged current {pi}{sup +}, and other channels. These measured cross-sections, in turn, allow to improve the knowledge of nucleon structure. This thesis is devoted to the study of NCE interactions. Neutrino-nucleus neutral current elastic scattering ({nu}N {yields} {nu}N) accounts for about 18% of all neutrino interactions in MiniBooNE. Using a high-statistics, high purity sample of NCE interactions in MiniBooNE, the flux-averaged NCE differential cross-section has been measured and is being reported here. Further study of the NCE cross-section allowed for probing the structure of nuclei. The main interest in the NCE cross-section is that …

This thesis presents a measurement of the top quark mass obtained from p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron using the CDF II detector. The measurement uses a matrix element integration method to calculate a t{bar t} likelihood, employing a Quasi-Monte Carlo integration, which enables us to take into account effects due to finite detector angular resolution and quark mass effects. We calculate a t{bar t} likelihood as a 2-D function of the top pole mass m{sub t} and {Delta}{sub JES}, where {Delta}{sub JES} parameterizes the uncertainty in our knowledge of the jet energy scale; it is a shift applied to all jet energies in units of the jet-dependent systematic error. By introducing {Delta}{sub JES} into the likelihood, we can use the information contained in W boson decays to constrain {Delta}{sub JES} and reduce error due to this uncertainty. We use a neural network discriminant to identify events likely to be background, and apply a cut on the peak value of individual event likelihoods to reduce the effect of badly reconstructed events. This measurement uses a total of 4.3 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity, requiring events with a lepton, large E{sub T}, and exactly four …

Knowledge discovery from large and complex collections of today's scientific datasets is a challenging task. With the ability to measure and simulate more processes at increasingly finer spatial and temporal scales, the increasing number of data dimensions and data objects is presenting tremendous challenges for data analysis and effective data exploration methods and tools. Researchers are overwhelmed with data and standard tools are often insufficient to enable effective data analysis and knowledge discovery. The main objective of this thesis is to provide important new capabilities to accelerate scientific knowledge discovery form large, complex, and multivariate scientific data. The research covered in this thesis addresses these scientific challenges using a combination of scientific visualization, information visualization, automated data analysis, and other enabling technologies, such as efficient data management. The effectiveness of the proposed analysis methods is demonstrated via applications in two distinct scientific research fields, namely developmental biology and high-energy physics.Advances in microscopy, image analysis, and embryo registration enable for the first time measurement of gene expression at cellular resolution for entire organisms. Analysis of high-dimensional spatial gene expression datasets is a challenging task. By integrating data clustering and visualization, analysis of complex, time-varying, spatial gene expression patterns and their formation …

A search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in proton-antiproton collisions with center-of-mass energy 1.96 TeV at the Tevatron is presented in this dissertation. The process of interest is the associated production of W boson and Higgs boson, with the W boson decaying leptonically and the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of bottom quarks. The dataset in the analysis is accumulated by the D0 detector from April 2002 to April 2008 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.7 fb{sup -1}. The events are reconstructed and selected following the criteria of an isolated lepton, missing transverse energy and two jets. The D0 Neural Network b-jet identification algorithm is further used to discriminate b jets from light jets. A multivariate analysis combining Matrix Element and Neural Network methods is explored to improve the Higgs boson signal significance. No evidence of the Higgs boson is observed in this analysis. In consequence, an observed (expected) limit on the ratio of {sigma} (p{bar p} {yields} WH) x Br (H {yields} b{bar b}) to the Standard Model prediction is set to be 6.7 (6.4) at 95% C.L. for the Higgs boson with a mass of 115 GeV.

Concurrency levels in large-scale, distributed-memory supercomputers are rising exponentially. Modern machines may contain 100,000 or more microprocessor cores, and the largest of these, IBM's Blue Gene/L, contains over 200,000 cores. Future systems are expected to support millions of concurrent tasks. In this dissertation, we focus on efficient techniques for measuring and analyzing the performance of applications running on very large parallel machines. Tuning the performance of large-scale applications can be a subtle and time-consuming task because application developers must measure and interpret data from many independent processes. While the volume of the raw data scales linearly with the number of tasks in the running system, the number of tasks is growing exponentially, and data for even small systems quickly becomes unmanageable. Transporting performance data from so many processes over a network can perturb application performance and make measurements inaccurate, and storing such data would require a prohibitive amount of space. Moreover, even if it were stored, analyzing the data would be extremely time-consuming. In this dissertation, we present novel methods for reducing performance data volume. The first draws on multi-scale wavelet techniques from signal processing to compress systemwide, time-varying load-balance data. The second uses statistical sampling to select a small …

The D0 detector underwent an upgrade to its silicon vertex detector and triggering systems during the transition from Run IIa to Run IIb to maximize its ability to fully exploit Run II at the Fermilab Tevatron. This thesis describes improvements made to the tracking and vertexing algorithms used by the high level trigger in both Run IIa and Run IIb, as well as a search for resonant di-J/{psi} states using both Run IIa and Run IIb data. Improvements made to the tracking and vertexing algorithms during Run IIa included the optimization of the existing tracking software to reduce overall processing time and the certification and testing of a new software release. Upgrades made to the high level trigger for Run IIb included the development of a new tracking algorithm and the inclusion of the new Layer 0 silicon detector into the existing software. The integration of Layer 0 into the high level trigger has led to an improvement in the overall impact parameter resolution for tracks of {approx}50%. The development of a new parameterization method for finding the error associated to the impact parameter of tracks returned by the high level tracking algorithm, in association with the inclusion of Layer …

We perform a search for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} oscillations, a process which would manifest a nonzero value of the {theta}{sub 13} mixing angle, in the MINOS long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. The analysis consists of searching for an excess of {nu}{sub e} charged-current candidate events over the predicted backgrounds, made mostly of neutral-current events with high electromagnetic content. A novel technique to select electron neutrino events is developed, which achieves an improved separation between the signal and the backgrounds, and which consequently yields a better reach in {theta}{sub 13}. The backgrounds are predicted in the Far Detector from Near Detector measurements. An excess is observed in the Far Detector data over the predicted backgrounds, which is consistent with the background-only hypothesis at 1.2 standard deviations.

The discovery of neutrino mass through experimental evidence of neutrino oscillations at the end of the last century has provided the first proof that the Standard Model of particle physics is incomplete. To be able to extend the Standard Model to incorporate massive neutrinos first requires many theoretical uncertainties surrounding the particle and its interactions to be understood. Therefore, a dedicated experimental programme is needed over the coming decades to provide precision measurements of the neutrino oscillation parameters and also a possible measurement of CP violation in the lepton sector, which could have astrophysical consequences. An intense source of neutrinos is required to achieve these precision measurements and the leading contender proposed to provide this neutrino beam, is the Neutrino Factory. Before a Neutrino Factory facility can be realised, a number of technological challenges need to be evaluated and understood first. One of which, is reduce the large phase space volume (emittance) of the initial muon beam, which is eventually stored and through decay provides the neutrino beam. Ionisation cooling is the chosen method to achieve this and the Muon Ionisation Cooling Experiment (MICE) at Rutherford Laboratory in the UK, is required to demonstrate ionisation cooling and its feasibility for …

Information technology (IT) is becoming increasingly pervasive throughout society as more data is digitally processed, stored, and transferred. The infrastructure that supports IT activity is growing accordingly, and data center energy demands haveincreased by nearly a factor of four over the past decade. Data centers house IT equipment and require significantly more energy to operate per unit floor area thanconventional buildings. The economic and environmental ramifications of continued data center growth motivate the need to explore energy-efficient methods to operate these buildings. A substantial portion of data center energy use is dedicated to removing the heat that is generated by the IT equipment. Using economizers to introduce large airflow rates of outside air during favorable weather could substantially reduce the energy consumption of data center cooling. Cooling buildings with economizers is an established energy saving measure, but in data centers this strategy is not widely used, partly owing to concerns that the large airflow rates would lead to increased indoor levels of airborne particles, which could damage IT equipment. The environmental conditions typical of data centers and the associated potential for equipment failure, however, are not well characterized. This barrier to economizer implementation illustrates the general relationship between energy use …

The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is a long-baseline accelerator neutrino experiment designed to measure properties of neutrino oscillation. Using a high intensity muon neutrino beam, produced by the Neutrinos at Main Injector (NuMI) complex at Fermilab, MINOS makes two measurements of neutrino interactions. The first measurement is made using the Near Detector situated at Fermilab and the second is made using the Far Detector located in the Soudan Underground laboratory in northern Minnesota. The primary goal of MINOS is to verify, and measure the properties of, neutrino oscillation between the two detectors using the {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} V{sub {tau}} transition. A complementary measurement can be made to search for the existence of sterile neutrinos; an oft theorized, but experimentally unvalidated particle. The following thesis will show the results of a sterile neutrino search using MINOS RunI and RunII data totaling {approx}2.5 x 10{sup 20} protons on target. Due to the theoretical nature of sterile neutrinos, complete formalism that covers transition probabilities for the three known active states with the addition of a sterile state is also presented.