Identification of High Energy Cosmic Ray Electrons Using Advanced Techniques in CALET and Fermi LAT

Measurements of the cosmic ray electron spectrum have received much attention over the last decade as anomalies in both electron and positron observations have been detected independently by several experiments. The profound possible implications in the fields of high energy astrophysics and particle physics have allowed for many interpretations on the origin of these inconsistencies in the spectra. This research focuses on two space-borne cosmic radiation experiments at different stages in their mission lifetimes: the Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) and the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). We explore the proton-electron discriminating capabilities of the CALET instrument through Monte Carlo simulations. Additionally, we present our efforts in electron identification using dedicated information of the tracking region of the LAT, exploiting calibration data from the beam test campaign. Within both studies, we employ multivariate techniques to improve the identification of cosmic ray electrons from the vast background

Imprints of Nuclear Symmetry Energy on Properties of Neutron Stars

Significant progress has been made in recent years in constraining the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy using terrestrial nuclear laboratory data. Around and below the nuclear matter saturation density, the experimental constraints start to merge in a relatively narrow region. At supra-saturation densities, there are, however, still large uncertainties. After summarizing the latest experimental constraints on the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy, we highlight a few recent studies examining imprints of nuclear symmetry energy on the binding energy, energy release during hadron-quark phase transitions as well as the $w$-mode frequency and damping time of gravitational wave emission of neutron stars.Comment: 10 pages. Invited talk given in the Nuclear Astrophysics session of INPC2010, July 4-9, 2010, Vancouver, Canada; Journal of Physics: Conference Series (2011

Interlinkages and gaps: a review of the literature on intergovernmental relations for flood management in the face of climate change

Current approaches to flood management are increasingly insufficient to deal with intensifying flood trends. In this paper, we define and map out the responsibilities and relationships of local, state, and federal governing entities at various levels. We use these relationships to identify gaps in governance needed to address the high financial, human, and infrastructure costs of flooding. This paper offers a description of current flood policies and provides recommendations for innovations in policy solutions to improve governance gaps. We identify three themes from the literature on intergovernmental relations and flood governance: (1) intergovernmental relations (interlinkages and gaps) for flood governance; (2) risks inherent to flood governance (financial, physical, social and individual, and perception of risk); (3) data adequacy and interoperability