Search for electroweak production of single top quarks in ppˉp\bar{p} collisions.

We present a search for electroweak production of single top quarks in the electron+jets and muon+jets decay channels. The measurements use ~90 pb^-1 of data from Run 1 of the Fermilab Tevatron collider, collected at 1.8 TeV with the DZero detector between 1992 and 1995. We use events that include a tagging muon, implying the presence of a b jet, to set an upper limit at the 95% confidence level on the cross section for the s-channel process ppbar->tb+X of 39 pb. The upper limit for the t-channel process ppbar->tqb+X is 58 pb. (arXiv

Hard Single Diffraction in pbarp Collisions at root-s = 630 and 1800 GeV

Using the D0 detector, we have studied events produced in proton-antiproton collisions that contain large forward regions with very little energy deposition (``rapidity gaps'') and concurrent jet production at center-of-mass energies of root-s = 630 and 1800 Gev. The fractions of forward and central jet events associated with such rapidity gaps are measured and compared to predictions from Monte Carlo models. For hard diffractive candidate events, we use the calorimeter to extract the fractional momentum loss of the scattered protons.Comment: 11 pages 4 figures. submitted to PR

The medicalistion of shyness: from social misfits to social fitness

Shyness has become an `unhealthy' state of mind for individuals living in contemporary Western societies. Insofar as its behavioural `symptoms' imply a failure to achieve certain cultural values, such as assertiveness, self-expression and loquacious vocality, shyness is increasingly defined as a problem for which people can, and should, be treated. This paper first critically discusses the idea that we are witnessing a new `cultural epidemic' of shyness, as evidenced by increasing rates of diagnosis for Social Phobia, Social Anxiety Disorder and Avoidant Personality Disorder. It then examines three main dimensions of the medicalisation of shyness: biomedical and genetic approaches, the therapeutic interventions of cognitive-behaviour therapy and `shyness clinics', and the disciplinary regimes imposed by self-help books and websites. Within a cultural climate of pervasive anxiety and privatised risk, the medicalisation of shyness suggests a powerful new way of defining and managing certain kinds of deviant identities, but we can also find some evidence of resistance to this approach