Testing a model of antecedents and consequences of defensive pessimism and self-handicapping in school physical education

There has been very limited research on the use of self-worth protection strategies in the achievement context of school physical education (PE). Thus, this study aimed to examine some antecedents and consequences of defensive pessimism and self-handicapping. The sample comprised 534 (females n = 275; males n = 259) British pupils recruited from two schools who responded to established questionnaires. Results of structural equation modelling analysis indicated that self-handicapping and defensive pessimism were positively predicted by fear of failure and negatively predicted by competence valuation. In addition, defensive pessimism was negatively predicted by physical self-concept. In turn, defensive pessimism negatively predicted enjoyment in PE and intentions to participate in future optional PE programs. Self-handicapping did not predict enjoyment or intentions. Results from multi-sample structural equation modelling showed the specified model to be largely invariant across males and females. The findings indicate that although both strategies aim to protect one’s self-worth, some of their antecedents and consequences in PE may differ

Tunneling study of cavity grade Nb: possible magnetic scattering at the surface

Tunneling spectroscopy was performed on Nb pieces prepared by the same processes used to etch and clean superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities. Air exposed, electropolished Nb exhibited a surface superconducting gap delta=1.55 meV, characteristic of clean, bulk Nb. However the tunneling density of states (DOS) was broadened significantly. The Nb pieces treated with the same mild baking used to improve the Q-slope in SRF cavities, reveal a sharper DOS. Good fits to the DOS were obtained using Shiba theory, suggesting that magnetic scattering of quasiparticles is the origin of the gapless surface superconductivity and a heretofore unrecognized contributor to the Q-slope problem of Nb SRF cavities.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

An Integrated Circuit for Signal Processing of the AMS RICH Photmultipliers Tubes

An analog integrated circuit has been designed, in a BiCMOS 0.8 micron technology, for the feasability study of the signal processing of the AMS RICH photomultiplier tubes. This low power, three channel gated integrator includes its own gate and no external analog delay is requiered. It processes PMT pulses over a dynamic range of more than 100. A logic output that indicates whether the analog charge has to be considered is provided. This gated integrator is used with a compact DSP based acquisition system in a 132 channels RICH prototype. The charge calibration of each channel is carried out using a LED. The pedestal measurement is performed on activation of a dedicated input. The noise contribution study of the input RC network and amplifiers is presented.Comment: IEEE symp. on Nucl. Sci. and Med. Imaging, Toront

The Interactions of Surface Damage on RF Cavity Operation

Studies of low frequency RF systems for muon cooling has led to a variety of new techniques for looking at dark currents, a new model of breakdown, and, ultimately, a model of RF cavity operation based on surface damage. We find that cavity behavior is strongly influenced by the spectrum of enhancement factors on field emission sites.Three different spectra are involved: one defining the initial state of the cavity, the second determined by the breakdown events, and the third defining the equilibrium produced as a cavity operates at its maximum field. We have been able to measure these functions and use them to derive a wide variety of cavity parameters: conditioning behavior, material, pulse length, temperature, vacuum, magnetic field, pressure, gas dependence. In addition we can calculate the dependence of breakdown rate on surface field and pulse length. This work correlates with data from Atom Probe Tomography. We will describe this model and new experimental data

Improvement and protection of niobium surface superconductivity by atomic layer deposition and heat treatment

A method to treat the surface of Nb is described, which potentially can improve the performance of superconducting rf cavities. We present tunneling and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements at the surface of cavity-grade niobium samples coated with a 3 nm alumina overlayer deposited by atomic layer deposition. The coated samples baked in ultrahigh vacuum at low temperature degraded superconducting surface. However, at temperatures above 450 C, the tunneling conductance curves show significant improvements in the superconducting density of states compared with untreated surfaces

Search for baryon resonances up to 10 GeV mass produced in p+p->+mm with a resolution of +- 25 MeV

A simple magnet-less missiong-mass experiment is proposed to investigate the mass-spectrum of non-strange baryons of isospins 1/2 and 3/2 in the mass-range from 4 to 10GeV with a resolution of {+-}25 MeV or better. The spacing between baryons expected from the empirical interval rule {Delta}M{sup 2} = 1 BeV{sup 2} is 125 and 50 MeV for masses of 4 and 10 GeV respectively; if the rule holds, one expects 10{sup 2}-4{sup 2} = 84 resonances in this range. They plan to use the reaction p + p - p + MM and to detect the recoil protons in the region of the Jacobian peak. The protons of momenta from 400 to 850 MeV/c are selected by means of time-of-flight, range, and pulse height and are recorded in a pulse height analyzer. Since no magnets, wire planes, computers or any other major facilities are needed, the experiment can be done as soon as the beam, either full extracted (Option 1) or secondary diffracted (Option 2) or interla (Option 3) is available

Status of Muon Collider Research and Development and Future Plans

The status of the research on muon colliders is discussed and plans are outlined for future theoretical and experimental studies. Besides continued work on the parameters of a 3-4 and 0.5 TeV center-of-mass (CoM) energy collider, many studies are now concentrating on a machine near 0.1 TeV (CoM) that could be a factory for the s-channel production of Higgs particles. We discuss the research on the various components in such muon colliders, starting from the proton accelerator needed to generate pions from a heavy-Z target and proceeding through the phase rotation and decay ($\pi \to \mu \nu_{\mu}$) channel, muon cooling, acceleration, storage in a collider ring and the collider detector. We also present theoretical and experimental R & D plans for the next several years that should lead to a better understanding of the design and feasibility issues for all of the components. This report is an update of the progress on the R & D since the Feasibility Study of Muon Colliders presented at the Snowmass'96 Workshop [R. B. Palmer, A. Sessler and A. Tollestrup, Proceedings of the 1996 DPF/DPB Summer Study on High-Energy Physics (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA, 1997)].Comment: 95 pages, 75 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Special Topics, Accelerators and Beam